The Attack of the Gremlins
by Stretch Snodgrass
Summary: Ethan's ready to begin the 11th Grade. But first he and his friends need to combat a evil group of gremlins ready to unleash murder and mayhem at Whitechapel High. A sequel to "The End of the Beginning".
1. Why Erica Wanted To Strangle Ethan

**The Attack of the Gremlins**

 **Chapter 1 – Why Erica Wanted To Strangle Ethan**

Whitechapel's new school year officially began the day after Labour Day. Labour Day falling early, September 2, made it all the worse.

There was a silver lining. September 3rd was a Professional Development Day in the elementary schools, and Registration Day at Whitechapel High. So there was, for students at least, one extra day of summer vacation. Not _officially_ , but it was an extra day.

And it was that day that the old Whitechapel Shoe Factory, a massive brick building with glass-block windows, was going to be destroyed in a controlled explosion.

The idea of going to watch an explosion was probably what made Erica so bitter that morning. After all, the last explosion in Whitechapel had been the lucifractor explosion, destroying all the dark energy in Whitechapel . . . and Erica's "dream life" along with it.

Without any dark energy to feed upon, a bloodsucker's curse is starved-out in a matter of minutes. That was how Jesse and Anastasia were stripped of their immortality, causing them to age, die, rot and ooze into yellowed skeletons in a pool of putrescent slime. But that was also how Sarah and Rory were cured, and were both now happily human again. And they would stay human, permanently, no matter where they went or moved, even when the normal amount of dark energy returned to the area in a few years time; it was as if they had never been under the curse in the first place.

But the dark-energy drain had also cured Erica. She _still_ resented it and clung to Ethan's grudging offer to trade a pint of his blood to the duo of vampire nurses, _if_ Erica still wanted to be a vampire in _four years times_ and _only if_ she never again fed on anyone in Whitechapel _and never attempted_ in word or deed to encourage Sarah or Rory to join her in becoming vampires again.

But the return to school as an ordinary human being was weighing on Erica's mind as she put in her contact lenses after a full night's sleep. And it wasn't putting her in a good mood, as she thought back of her time in Grade 9 when she was mocked mercilessly by Stephanie and her cheerleader friends.

The fact that Stephanie was now a wrinkled old woman didn't have Erica feeling the least bit better that morning.

Most people are refreshed by a night's sleep. But not today, and not Erica. Erica had overslept and missed going with her BFF Sarah to register for Grade 12 . . . their final year at high school! Sarah had _gone with Ethan (!)_ as the two registered early, having to get things ready for that geeky picnic lunch! The crazy notion behind this . . . jaunt . . . was that it was last free time "Team Sabre plus Erica and Jane" would have on a weekday until Thanksgiving Day.

But this _boring_ picnic was no excuse to ditch Erica with a message to meet them at Ethan or Benny's house, or the explosion! The fact that Erica had ditched Sarah several times for a cute guy didn't check Erica's annoyance at being "ditched" herself.

For one thing, it wasn't a cute guy . . . _it was Ethan they were talking about!_

Well, at least, Erica was able to flirt with varsity footballer Bill Vanlake while she was registering at the principal's office. There was the fact a brief glimpse at her timetable showed her to be sharing most of her classes with her BFF. Grade 12 _also_ meant Erica only needed to take six more classes to get her high school diploma – that meant two spare periods. One spare was scheduled this semester, the second would be in the New Year.

So, things did look to be _okay_ , and Erica wasn't forgetting how hot she was and that she was as popular as Stephanie had been in the old days. But that was poor compensation for losing her immortality! And things had become so . . . so . . . _boring_!

As far as Erica knew, nothing dangerous or exciting had happened in Whitechapel since an abominable snowman trashed an ice cream parlour in June. Benny had a couple of missteps with his magic (a bit of information Erica heard third-hand from Sarah), but that was typical and only good for a laugh.

Ethan and his geek posse had randomly run into three vampires in _Toronto_ , of all places. Erica had been pleased they had killed a vampire who tried to double-cross _her_ , that is to say her ex-boss at the vampire restaurant (the place soon to reopen as a Greek dining establishment). But now Erica felt sore about Ethan not making a deal with the vamps to make her a bloodsucker again.

What was it with Ethan, Benn and Rory's goody-two-shoes campaign against immortals? _Just because they "murdered" innocent people?_ Didn't they realize that vampires were naturally at the top of the food chain?

Ethan seemed, this fine September morning, to be the cause of all Erica's misfortunes. The end of Jesse's gang, and Erica's role as _his girl_. Sure, Erica hated Jesse for glamouring her . . . but his gang had been so cool! The end of the vampire council . . . even if Anastasia had glamoured her as well. The bungling of Stern and the lucifractor . . . and the lame insistence of _everyone_ . . . Sarah included . . . that the aftermath couldn't have been better for "Team Sabre" (lame group, lame name!) if it had been planned!

If Erica was truthful with herself, she would realize she was softening on the issue of Whitechapel's vampires and how evil bloodsuckers truly were. Erica wistfully wondered what would have happened _IF ONLY_ Whitechapel's vampires had acted more like the vampires in _Dusk!_ Sarah wouldn't have been disgusted with the idea of being immortal! Ethan would mind his own business; and Rory wouldn't have been accidentally turned into a vampire and become the bane of her existence with his doglike worship. Well, at least that part was over! No, Jesse and Anastasia had the wrong approach. Really, the immortals should have been "living aloof, above and apart the rabble of humanity", but with a sense of " _noblesse oblige_ " . . . .

In short, Erica still subscribed to the _Dusk_ -type gibberish she always had; a bunch of garbage that no one aside from Duskers took seriously.

But softening or not, but how could Erica abide what _would have been her two-year anniversary as an immortal_ by celebrating her last day without-school by . . . could you believe it? . . . a _picnic in the country_ with Sarah and her geek boyfriend, Ethan. Just to make the idea all the more sickening, Benny, Rory and Ethan's little sister Jane were coming along too; right after they all watched the shoe factory bite the dust. All of them stuffed into Evelyn Weir's vintage Ford with the bench seats. Could anything be more gross?

* * *

What was "more gross" was the fact that, just outside the fencing to protect the crowd of spectators, there the unlikely pair of Rory and Ethan's little sister Jane were waiting. And Rory had a dog on a leash, a golden Labrador-retriever puppy.

"Hi Erica" said Rory, in his typical rapid-fire way, and as sociable if Erica was a close friend. "Did you see what my Mom got me for my sixteenth birthday? His name's Krypto. Jane came with me too while Benny's grandma helps Sarah, Ethan and Benny get the picnic set-up and . . . ."

"Rory was swiping sandwiches for himself" Jane interrupted. "It cut down on Sarah and Ethan's canoodling-time."

"Nuh-uh" insisted Rory. "Ethan wanted me to take Jane to the explosion to keep her out of trouble. So I went with Jane and Krypto."

"More like Jane watching you and Krypto so you don't get blown-up" Erica said, before suddenly grimacing. " _Krypto_?!"

"This is going to be fun" Jane observed, as she first looked to Rory's enthusiastic expression and then peered at Erica's scowl.

"What kind of a crappy name is Krypto for a dog anyways?" said Erica, with a vicious glance at the puppy at her shoe.

Like its master, Krypto had a rather dopey, eager expression. The dog annoyed the already angry Erica by barking at her in greeting, a rather high "yip".

"He's named after _the_ Krypto" explained Rory. "You know, Krypto the Superdog! Superman's dog from the Planet Krypton."

Rory went into a convoluted story about the origins of Superman's dog, sent by the Man of Steel's father to Earth in a test rocket.

The secret origins of "Krypto the Superdog" didn't interest Erica in the slightest. Yet Erica pretended to hear Rory's eager recitation; truthfully, Erica wondered whether by throwing a few insults at his puppy she might get a reaction from Rory. Usually Rory was immune to any barbs Erica sent his way, but by insulting the pup Erica . . . well, she was feeling exceptionally mean-spirited this morning and wanted to see a look of surprise and disappointment on the pup's master's face.

"Only an idiot would be impressed by a Super-dog from an alien planet" sneered Erica, her bluntness surprising both Rory and Jane. "And that weak-looking pup can't be too smart to have you as a master."

"Why?" objected Rory, quickly getting over his disappointment. "He's awesome as I am."

"It's a cool dog, Rory" said Jane, rubbing Krypto's ears.

"Well" tried Erica, "what kind of dog likes an ex-vampire? Everyone know immortals don't have pet dogs."

"He's not your pet, he's mine" Rory explained innocently. "And you're an _ex-_ vampire, so it doesn't make a difference anymore."

"I meant YOU!" said Erica, in a tone of such complete exasperation that she managed to attract a few brief looks from the bystanders . . . and even the cameraman sent by the _Whitechapel Bystander_.

"Oh yeah!" said Rory, petting Krypto. "I forgot. I mean, after I got back from that trip I took with Ethan and Benny I stopped thinking of having been one that much . . . I mean, I guess I wouldn't know how much I like garlic if it hadn't been for being a bloodsucker, but . . . ."

Jane stopped listening to Rory and looked at Erica's face. It was a perfect mix of incredulity and fury. Jane wasn't surprised that his once being a vampire had . . . at least momentarily . . . slipped Rory's over-excited mind. Or that Rory was oblivious to Erica's anger. But Jane was in wonder how Erica could be so upset that Rory had not only (with some help from Ethan and Benny) quickly become as happy as Sarah to be freed from the curse, but be able to have it slip his mind that he was ever under it.

Rory, for his part, soon found himself on the ground, a victim of an uppercut and a shin-kick by Erica.

Erica stomped off across the cracked pavement to the road to see when her BFF would arrive . . . the only reason she was at this "geekfest" to begin with.

"Nice karate moves" Rory said, in something of a groan as Krypto came to his master's rescue by licking his face. "I guess Erica's upset that school starts tomorrow?"

"I think she's upset you forgot you spent almost two years as a vampire" Jane pointed out, amused.

Jane thought Erica was weird . . . and more than a little funny when she took on Ethan and his friends.

"One year, nine months" Rory retorted. "But, man! I can't think about _that_ for the rest of my life It would be boring, not to mention totally gnarly! But, you know, that reminds me . . . did I tell you that Ethan thinks Krypto is an evil-detecting dog?"

"Because he smelled out your old socks?" Jane replied sarcastically.

"They weren't just any socks" said Rory excitedly. "They were a pair of gym socks _waaaaay_ underneath my bed, that I haven't had washed or worn since I was a bloodsucker. But Krypto ran underneath, pulled them out, growled and tore them to shreds. They must have had _vampire sweat_ on them."

"Are you sure it wasn't just the smell of the socks?" said Jane, who thought this weird idea was _typical_ of Ethan and his friends.

"Nuh-uh" said Rory. "Krypto only chews on my other socks. But these he tore up."

* * *

"I'm sure it was just the smell of the socks" Sarah told Ethan, Benny and Rory, a little while later.

Sarah, Ethan and Benny had finally finished packing (Benny also had swiped a sandwich or two from the basket, not to mention a fried chicken leg). Sarah had then driven Evelyn's Ford on the "usual conditions" . . . plus the additional one that she didn't let Ethan, Benny or Rory drive (the three now all had their G1 licenses, Rory having passed his written test by the skin-of-his-teeth on his birthday).

"The undead stench must have been on the socks" said Benny, carelessly. "Dogs have sensitive noses. Krypto must have smelt it out. Man, _it must be really have driven him crazy_. You ought to have been there!"

"And it couldn't be me" Rory added. "Krypto loves me, it's puppy love."

"That's not what they call puppy love, Rory" laughed Sarah, with a look at Ethan who also began chuckling at Rory's mistake.

"Are you saying vampires stink?" put in Erica, bitterly crossing her arms.

"Literally" said Ethan, with a grin. "At least to dogs."

"I didn't have dogs bark at me as an immortal" said Erica.

Benny rolled his eyes at the term "immortal".

"There were a couple of dogs that weren't too happy to see me back then" Sarah said. "But other than Della's demon-possessed dog, I didn't have any trouble."

"Maybe it was the concentrated and _ripe_ smell in the socks" shrugged Ethan. "But pets do see things. I mean, there's lots of stories about cats predicting earthquakes. Both dogs and cats seeing ghosts that _most_ people can't see."

"We used to have a large coven of amazing vampires in this city" muttered Erica to herself solemnly. "Now all we have is a Labrador retriever that tears up dirty gym socks."

Fortunately for Erica, nobody heard her aside from Sarah, who decided that Erica had enough of the "evil-detecting puppy." Besides . . . .

"We didn't come here to talk about Rory's socks" said Sarah, with a look of disgust. "Where's this explosion?"

"It looks to be soon" said Ethan, as the demolition crew was now moving away from the building. "Did you read what the _Bystander_ 's online edition said about the factory?"

" _Yes_ " said Erica, to everyone else's surprise. " _I can read, you know. And I do want to know about what I'm watching being blown up._ This place opened in the nineteen-twenties and made shoes and boots for decades until they closed up ten years ago. The only interesting thing that ever happened there was during World War II, when they made boots and other leather goods day and night for the war effort. They even placed an assembly lines in the basement. But through the war they feared a Nazi saboteur was at work as they had trouble with the machinery, especially on the temporary line installed in the basement. He or she was never discovered, and the problems ended with the war and the closing of the basement."

"I keep forgetting Erica used to be a geek like us" said Benny wryly, before shrinking under her angry glare.

Even without her fangs, Erica could look very intimidating.

"Given _this_ town, instead of a spy it could have been something supernatural, maybe the bloodsuckers" said Ethan with a shrug. "It could even have been Jesse. We know he was here in the forties, that's when he hid the lucifractor at the old hotel."

"Are you serious, Ethan?" said Benny. "Jesse was a complete a . . . ." Benny stalled with a look at Jane. "A complete jerk. But we're talking _two different kinds of evil here_. Jesse was his own operator, he wouldn't take on a job as spy."

"Not that he wasn't evil enough to spy for the wrong side" Sarah put in. "Especially if it meant easy meals."

"Yeah, it would be the wrong side" Rory said, "We were the only good bloodsuckers, the other vamps are evil so they'd never spy for the Allies. They'd spy for the Nazis. So if he was a spy Jesse was definitely on the wrong side."

" _If_ vampires spied at all" Sarah reminded him. "They're not the spying types."

" _If you three geeks read Dusk_ " said Erica furiously, "You'd know that immortals aren't Nazi spies or Axis spies or spies of any kind."

Erica's day was turning out even worse than she expected! And Erica had herself to blame! Having introduced the subject of vampires, Erica had to listen to Ethan and his geek posse reduce the "glamorous immortals" to a discussion of dirty socks, a Labrador retriever pup, and despicable Nazi spies.

To add insult to injury, Erica now had the feeling that _even_ Jane was laughing at her, given her bemused look!

And Erica's BFF? Sarah was _barely any help_ ; rather than defend vampires she merely changed the topic. Timetables and Rory's driver's license and the impending explosion.

More mind-numbing boredom for Erica!

* * *

Finally, there was a stir in the crowd. The definitely-unglamorous Whitechapel Shoe Factorywas soon to meet its end. While Rory had the idea the whole building was going to be blown-up "sky-high", Ethan explained only the main structural supports were going to be blasted causing the factory to fall in on itself. It would take weeks or even months to tear down the building with an old-fashioned wrecking ball; that is without damaging the surrounding buildings. This way all that would have to be done afterwards was clear away the rubble.

"It's good to see an explosion without fearing for your life" said Sarah to Jane, with a laugh. "Of course, I don't have anything to complain about the last one."

Erica could have screamed!

"You said it" said Ethan, who now nervously, but boldly (for him) put his arm around Sarah despite the crowd.

They kissed.

Erica was horrified! Sarah kissing Ethan in public! With some actual _cool_ people from school in the crowd! While Sarah dating Ethan was common knowledge at school (it had been rumoured before they began dating), Erica despised Sarah "throwing away" her social life like this.

The fact that Sarah was happy (and her popularity hadn't suffered) didn't make a difference. Sarah and Ethan? Erica felt like putting her fingerprints all over Ethan's neck.

Benny giving the pair two thumbs-up didn't ease Erica's mind. Nor the fact that Krypto barked his approval. Nor the realization that Rory and Jane were too busy watching for the explosion to pay attention to what, after all, no longer a novel sight make Erica any happier.

Erica couldn't wait to see the end of _this_ misery! This was worse than the geek picnic she had agreed to attend! All for this grubby brick building, with glass-blocks windows half smashed and half-boarded, surrounded by a once paved parking lot that had deteriorated into gravel interspersed by clumps of crabgrass!

A policewoman on a megaphone announced the impending demolition. A couple more officers made sure everyone was safely behind the yellow-tape. Then it was demolition hour! Ten-thirty to be exact. Without further ceremony, a roar came from inside the building and the roof and walls quickly buckled into a pile of rubble as they fell inward upon themselves.

"Awesome" said Rory who shared a high-five with Benny.

"Front-row seats" said Benny in return. "Ethan, dude?"

"Ethan?" asked Sarah.

"Ethan?" said Jane.

Krypto started barking wildly.

The rest of the crowd looked towards the remains of the plant, and . . . for a few seconds . . . heard an unaccountable tapping, as of miniature tools, and a strange scrambling. A few seconds later more of the building crumbled into what had been its basement with another resounding crash.

But Erica was happy. _She observed that Ethan's eyeballs had that strange gleam in them, as if someone were shining a flashlight from in behind the pupils._

That tapping, that scrambling . . . it meant something interesting . . . something exciting . . . something _cool_ was up.

Even if Erica had to hang out with "Team Sabre" to see it through, she wasn't going to miss the fun.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

This is the fifth and second-last story in a series beginning with "The End of the Beginning", and continuing through "Ethan to the Future", "Good v. Evil or Some Assembly Required" and "Busman's Holiday".

For the sake of convenience, Sarah and Erica are in Grade 12 and one year older than Ethan, Benny and Rory – although Erica called herself a Senior in "Flushed".


	2. A Murder of Gremlins

**Chapter 2 – A Murder of Gremlins**

After the controlled explosion, Jane and the teens crowded into Evelyn Weir's _Ford_. Sarah carefully drove the car out to the Parker Creek Conversation Area a few miles from town. Girls in front, geeks in back. The arrangement was suggested . . . or rather, demanded . . . by Erica, so she wouldn't have to sit beside Ethan, Benny or Rory. Especially since Benny's idea had been to have Erica sit between him and Rory, while Ethan sat next to Sarah and Jane sat on the front passenger's side.

During the short trip, Ethan explained his vision. The first thing he had seen was the old factory at its wartime height in the dark year of 1941. The workers, men and women, were hard at work on the "home front" with stamping machines and the like, producing boots, belts, and other forms of leather goods. An important job to be sure, though not as well remembered as the munitions and machinery factories that were working at a breakneck speed in that era.

But it was lucky that Whitechapel wasn't the location of a munitions plant, because the Whitechapel Shoe Factory, even with its non-explosive product, was infested with gremlins. What did they look like? Ethan was reminded of a _Bugs Bunny_ cartoon. Blue, almost comical looking little men with bulbous red noses and pointed ears . . . .

"Little blue men?" scoffed Erica. "That's what we're after?"

"Dangerous little blue men" said Sarah, as she signalled a turn. "And evil. If we're looking at creatures that aimed at sabotaging _our_ soldiers."

"Yeah" put in Rory. "I remember watching a _Bugs Bunny_ cartoon, where this gremlin took over this plane Bugs Bunny was flying on. And if one gremlin could outsmart _Bugs Bunny_ , imagine what a crowd of things can do?"

"You geeks actually like a lame cartoon character like _Bugs Bunny_?" scoffed Erica.

"Okay, not so much as teenagers" Benny retorted. "But _Bugs Bunny is cool._ Way more awesome than your fracking . . . ."

"The assembly line in the basement made uniforms for the Royal Canadian Air Force" interrupted Ethan, who didn't want to argue _Bugs Bunny_ versus _Dusk_ although he was definitely of Benny's way of thinking. "And because gremlins hated the allied air forces above everything else, they targeted it the most. Besides, they found the most places to hide down there."

Ethan went on to explain that after the war, the gremlins weren't so active. Just causing an occasional accident now and then.

"But why were they the most active during the war?" mused Sarah as she stopped at a red light. "To cause the most trouble? The factory couldn't easily be moved then with every bit of spare material going to the fight the war?"

"It makes sense" Ethan agreed. "They'd need a new railroad spur, brick, glass, steel and concrete."

"Plus WWII was pretty much good versus evil, so they'd love sabotaging _our_ side" Benny pointed out.

"But where are they going now?" asked Sarah. "I get that tapping and scrambling were the gremlins escaping the ruins of the plant? How are we going to take them down before they close down another factory?'

"They're furious their home was destroyed" said Ethan. "They're not after damage, they're after bodies. They're hitting Whitechapel High's shop class after lunch tomorrow."

* * *

Erica was annoyed that the geeks decided to go ahead with the picnic. But, everyone else had been looking forward to the trip. Besides, heading back to Ethan or Benny's house so soon would lead to some hard questions from Ethan's mother.

The conservation area was scenic enough. It was accessed off a gravel road, comprising a picnic area on a meadow overlooking a creek running through a small ravine. An old rail trestle, planked and changed into a walkway, formed a bridge across the waterway. Upon arriving, Sarah, Rory, Ethan and Benny went over the bridge with Krypto to gather some wood for a fire from a thicket on the other side. Erica, who didn't care for "picking up sticks", and Jane, who was just plain hungry, unpacked the food.

In spite of her complaining, Erica wasn't adverse to fried chicken, coleslaw, sandwiches, ice cream and some of Benny's grandmother's chocolate cake. And the three geeks had brought along a few bags of marshmallows to toast on an open fire ( _What was it with them and marshmallows?)_. Erica, though, was infuriated when Benny came across a chicken leg that hadn't been cut nor cooked properly and offered it to her.

"I guess you'll like the blood" Benny said.

"I guess you'll like having the football team beat you to a pulp" Erica replied coldly.

"Give it to Krypto" suggested Sarah, intervening as she finished her turkey sandwich. "It won't harm him."

"You've got to take it off the bone first" said Rory, who was eating a ham sandwich. "Krypto's not old enough to chew it, he could choke. I don't think dogs can get salmonella but . . . ."

"How about we quit admiring Rory's new dog and you let us know more about these "gremlins" who are going to attack the school tomorrow?" interrupted Erica.

While Erica was relieved to have some fun, and Benny and Rory were eager to again be heroes, Ethan was disappointed by _another_ monster attack – so soon after the last one too! Man, he had only nearly lost his life fighting a trio of destructive vampires only _three_ weeks before! And he had to, at least partially, put aside "chilling" at a picnic with his closest friends, _his girlfriend_ , possible "canoodling", all to plan a fight against a group of "little blue men!"

But Ethan soon discovered Gremlins weren't to be considered "men".

"You know" said Benny casually as he was looking at the spell-book his grandmother Evelyn told him, "Gremlins are actually a type of demon. And they're _really_ hard to get rid of. They multiply when's they're hit on the head hard enough. "With the rise of railroads and factories, spell-masters should watch out these dangerous creatures don't try to maim, kill and sabotage innocent people."

"The rise of railroads and factories?" questioned Sarah.

"It's a _really_ old book" Benny explained.

"Which is why during the war gremlins started specializing in airplanes" said Ethan, who was now fiddling with his smartphone. "Here, I've got those cartoons Rory was talking about. I took my laptop along in case we wanted to watch a movie later, I'll get that out so we can all do some research."

"I don't think you're going to get too far researching those" said Sarah, with a smile.

"That's what happens when Ethan's on the frontline against evil" said Jane wryly. "You have a break for cartoons and marshmallows.

"That's a good one" Erica observed.

"Yeah, but it'll be something cool to watch while we finish lunch" Benny said.

* * *

There were two _Merrie Melodies_ cartoons featuring gremlins. Both were made during the Second World War. The first was from 1943, called _Falling Hare_. This was the one that Rory had seen. _Bugs Bunny_ had been trapped on a military airplane with a gremlin. Eventually the gremlin sabotaged the plane and it began to crash. Fortunately, the plane ran out of gas and stopped in midair . . . just a few feet above the ground.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever watched" sniffed Erica.

"Besides _Dusk_ " muttered Benny to Rory and Ethan, the three of whom laughed until Erica halted them with a glare.

The second was from 1944, called _Russian Rhapsody_. Here the gremlins were the heroes! Back in 1942, Nazi aircraft flying over the Soviet Union were unaccountably crashing. Hitler decided to fly a bomber himself. The "Gremlins from the Kremlin" destroyed the plane and crashed it atop Hitler. A gremlin also hit the Nazi leader on the head with a sledgehammer for good measure.

"Okay" Sarah admitted, " _that_ was fun but it didn't really tell us much about fighting real gremlins."

"I wish that _had really_ happened" said Rory disappointedly.

"Yeah, dude" said Benny. "But like I said, gremlins are demons. So that's why in real life it was mostly the Allies who reported seeing them. They mainly attacked the good guys."

"But why are they going to attack the school?" asked Sarah. "Ethan, could you pass the ginger ale?"

It turned out, to Benny's surprise, that Sarah and Erica . . . as human beings . . . liked ginger ale, in spite of it being one of the least cool types of pop . . . and the butt of a couple of jokes, even in the home of _Canada Dry_. Benny and Ethan were root beer men, while Rory alternated between root beer and cola.

(In fact, as soon as Benny could manage it, he thought he'd give Ethan and Rory their own flasks of bottomless root beer. Maybe for their seventeenth birthdays next year? The thing was Ethan's had to be first – you couldn't give one to your second-best friend before your best friend)

"Our shop equipment is really old school" shrugged Ethan. "I guess they wanted someplace to feel like home."

"I don't know why you nerds aren't taking shop this year" snickered Erica, who in spite of herself had remembered the timetable discussion earlier. "With your building that monster-trapping equipment and making homemade rockets."

"We took it in Grade Nine" said Benny defensively.

"And there's not much room on our schedule for _everything_ " said Rory.

"Ethan also calls it a "jock" and not a geek subject" said Sarah observed, with a smile at Ethan.

"Really?" laughed Jane.

"I don't need to be shoved around by guys who can barely tell AC from DC" Ethan said defensively. "There's very little electronic-work in our shop classes. It would be awesome if they'd update the equipment, but the school board is wasting their money funding a new, second gym."

"You need to relax, Ethan" said Sarah. "Not all jocks are bullies."

"Some are insane gym coaches, some are reanimated corpses, and others are weredogs looking for a cure" Ethan replied. "When I actually meet a friendly jock I'll keep everybody posted."

"I got it" said Rory suddenly, who had remembered something important and been surfing his smartphone. " _Teen Aviation Monthly_ " has an upcoming issue on pilots and bomber crews in World War II. The war crew's average age was twenty-one, many were in their late teens and the rest were mostly in their early twenties. So they were only a few years older than us."

"That's not news" scoffed Erica. "Well, to anyone but _you_."

"No, but it probably means that gremlins like to target teenage victims" said Sarah. "They wouldn't be the first group who chose the high school for their targets."

"There were also a lot of _Whitechapel High_ students at the explosion" Ethan observed. "Us watching the destruction of their home must have encouraged the gremlins to target the school in revenge."

"It would have encouraged the king gremlin" said Benny, who again looked at his book. "That's the leader of a murder of gremlins."

"Whoa! A king gremlin! Does he wear a golden crown?" asked Rory.

"Yeah, but it's silver, not gold" Benny replied.

"A group of crows is called a murder" said Erica, with her arms crossed. "Not gremlins."

"I don't care what a group of gremlin's called" said Sarah practically. "How do you stop them?"

"The book doesn't say" Benny said, turning the leaf. "The next page just has a spell to stop giant killer bees from the Netherlands."

"Netherworld" suggested Ethan impatiently. "Netherlands is a country in Europe. I don't think Holland has a problem with giant killer bees flying around the tulips."

* * *

Not knowing how to defeat the gremlins, it looked as if Team Sabre would need to use that old failsafe . . . ask Benny's Grandmother Evelyn for advice. While Erica nor Jane weren't the least bit disappointed, Ethan, Sarah, Benny and Rory were annoyed they'd have to "give up" so soon.

Sarah especially. While she was mindful of how often Ethan and Benny were forced to run to Evelyn Weir for help, Sarah wasn't too pleased the new, "officially named" team couldn't manage this cartoonish albeit deadly threat.

Sarah had an additional reason to do this entirely on her own. Well, on her own with Team Sabre's help. Sarah had appreciated Ethan's _motives_ in not wanting to drag her to Toronto to help the boys in their life-or-death fight against three powerful bloodsuckers a few weeks before. Still, Sarah had considered it disappointing she hadn't been consulted. Settling "the murder" of gremlins that were attacking the school would be a great way to prove her karate lessons and that ordinary girls could kick monster-butt.

Besides, Sarah was secretly pleased that Erica, in spite of herself, seemed to be showing a few pangs of conscience. If fighting monsters brought back a kinder Erica, less inclined to want to be a vampire, so much the better!

* * *

Once everyone had finished lunch, Evelyn's chocolate cake inclusive, they decided to roast marshmallows.

Benny tried to start the campfire with his fireball spell. Benny's spell worked, but it worked too well. The fireball burned the branches the group had collected to cinders. After a few minutes collecting _new_ firewood, Ethan insisted on _non-magically_ lighting the fire himself.

Ethan had considered using the lighter he had taken to the _Westdale Theatre_. The one he used for the lucky throw that set off the sprinklers and destroyed Jesse's gang of vampires (or _murder_ of vampires, it fit better for vampires than it did with crows). But as much as Ethan loved that lighter, he remembered it had a darker meaning for his friends. Between the death of several of Sarah's Dusker friends, Rory's embarrassment at being twisted around by Jesse, and a possible fight with Erica about _her role_ in those events . . . while it was better "letting sleeping dog's lie."

And by that, Ethan didn't mean Krypto, who was busy yipping at few fish he had spied in the creek.

But still, as Ethan lighted the fire with ordinary matches, the memory of that evil-destroying toss again rose in Ethan's mind. It hit Benny, whose eyes lighted up the same time as the fire. Sarah too, remembered how anything holy was lethal to demons and the undead alike. Even Jane looked at the matches, remembering what she had heard about the fateful night.

"Can you put holy water in the school's sprinkler system?" asked Erica abruptly.

Erica chose to think of the implications of things holy being lethal to vampires as nothing other than as a mere "weakness". Nonetheless, Erica knew _that_ was how Jesse's gang was eliminated after Erica lost her fight with Sarah and fled the theatre.

"Huh?" asked Rory, who had been too busy trying to teach Krypto to fetch. "Oh yeah, uh, the sprinklers . . . . man, you know guys, I don't know what I was thinking when I with the bad guys . . . "

"Between Jesse's manipulation and having your mind warped by having just turned into a vampire, _you weren't thinking properly_ " said Sarah kindly. "For me, I don't think I would have called a Grade 9 newb a geek in front of the whole school . . . even _if_ he accidentally dumped his lunch all over me. Well, I _definitely_ would have _tried_ not to call him a geek!"

Ethan grinned embarrassedly as everyone laughed at his expense. Benny and Rory patted him on the shoulders.

"Dude, you might never had met Sarah otherwise!" Benny whispered. " _Well, not until she came to your front door that night!"_

"Is there a separate sprinkler system for the shop class?" asked Sarah. "I don't think we should waste holy water dousing the whole school. As annoying as it can be, I don't think it's the right thing to use holy water . . . and it won't improve the school."

"I think there actually is a separate sprinkler system" said Ethan. "The school blueprints are online, the board posted the blueprints for the entire school when they posted their plans for the new gym. When the gremlins gather to attack, we can douse them and destroy them . . . instantly! The only problem is they'll be causing a bit of damage, and we'll have to find a way to keep the class after lunch safe falling debris until the gremlins are done."

"That's third period" said Sarah. "That's my free period. I think I can take _one_ shop period. How about you, Erica?"

" _We_ can" Erica said coyly. "A lot of the cute guys take shop. And they wouldn't look half so good if a piece of heavy machinery were to drop on their heads."


	3. Attack of the Gremlins

**Chapter 3 – Attack of the Gremlins**

The evening before, Sarah, Rory and Krypto were in charge of getting the holy water. This responsibility felt good for both Sarah and Rory; and, besides gave Ethan and Benny time to get a copy of the sprinkler blueprints in the meantime.

Krypto barked excitedly as he watched Rory and Sarah place the barrel in the car.

"You don't know how natural it feels to be able to do this without a welding mask" Sarah told Rory.

"Yeah I do" said Rory, as it was a good feeling. "Sarah, if this barrel broke while we were vamps" Rory added, "we'd be melted like the Wicked Witch of the West."

"We'd be roasted, actually" Sarah said.

"Same difference" Rory said petulantly.

"Isn't a _Wizard of Oz_ reference out of the usual for you?" asked Sarah, as she started the _Ford_.

"Yeah" Rory said. "But I can't really think of anything _Star Trek,_ _Star Wars_ _or_ _Battlestar Galactica_ related that'll work. Can you Krypto?"

Krypto looked quizzically at Rory.

"We've gotta watch _all of them_ together, don't we?" Rory asked his dog.

Sarah rolled her eyes, and thought it was a shame that Erica had a date and was taking the night off.

* * *

"Man, if we were just setting off the sprinklers _with ordinary water_ on the _first day of school_ , that would be about the most awesome prank ever" Benny observed to the rest of Team Sabre, after they rendezvoused at Ethan's house. "Imagine, interrupting school and dousing everyone and everything."

Rory grinned, so did Ethan in spite of himself, but Sarah wasn't amused.

"Don't be idiots, guys! You'd douse yourself into being expelled" Sarah pointed out. "I don't think the school computers are waterproof. And if anything mechanical or electrical gets sabotaged, you three are the first Principal Hicks will suspect."

"Well, it's unfair" Rory pointed out, before adding, "even if he has a point."

"I guess so" said Ethan. "It's actually too bad we have to wait until the gremlins attack to evacuate. We need the shop class as bait to get them _all there_ to show up and be destroyed."

"Using _human bait_ " Sarah observed disgustedly. "Isn't there another option?"

"If we don't eliminate the gremlins all at one time, they can scatter, roam and kill as they please" Ethan replied. "Gremlins like causing mayhem and maiming and that's the only way to be sure we catch 'em all."

"You better not make a _Pokemon_ reference, Ethan" said Benny. "We're _way_ too cool for that."

"I don't think you're too cool for anything, Benny" Sarah said dryly.

Ethan was the only one of the three boys who understood the joke. Ethan looked closely at the blueprints he had printed out . . . Ethan didn't want Benny to see his grin or his silent laughter.

* * *

Consequently, there were three objectives the first day of school. First was to prevent anyone from being killed. Second, was to kill all the gremlins. Third was to avoid detection by Principal Hicks.

In that order.

The holy water had been successfully fed into the shop's sprinkler system early in the morning, while Hicks was still having his morning cup of coffee. Ethan noticed that Hicks, as well as the other teachers at school, seemed to now shun _Lotta Latte_ like a zombie plague. No wonder, as the "hot coffee fever" outbreak was well covered in the news. The teachers now went with _Tim Hortons_ , a more Canadian choice and, as Benny pointed out, _a lot cheaper_ too.

Ethan thought it was too bad his first day of school wasn't going to be a normal day! Ethan too had a schedule where he took all his classes with his friends. Given their near-identical course selections, the school really had no choice! In Grade 11, courses Ethan didn't care for like Physical Education or his mandatory "Arts" elective were a thing of the past. That morning, it was Grade 11 University Level Math and Grade 11 University Level Physics. Could anything be better for a Mathlete? Anything morning be more of a breeze? Could any morning be more sickening to _any_ other teenager?

Even having the ordinary-dreaded Ms. Steele for math didn't phase Ethan. She was impossibly strict, but even Ms. Steele couldn't find fault with the top math student in the eleventh grade.

* * *

A quick discussion with Team Sabre (plus Erica) followed at lunch. Erica had generously allowed herself to be seen in the company of geeks. Mostly because Sarah was sitting beside her and "everyone" knew _Sarah_ was dating Ethan anyways. Also because Sarah promised not to do anything "gross" like kissing Ethan in the middle of the cafeteria.

* * *

Following lunch, Ethan, Rory and Benny were off to "Introduction to Computer Science" while Sarah and Erica "infiltrated shop class" . . . at least that was how Benny described the two girls signing up for the course.

Mr. Basseti was the shop teacher. Normally, Basseti would have been pleased that more girls were taking his course. The only female student in his Grade 12 class was Tanya Keno, who had always loved building and hoped to partner in her father's construction business soon. Unsurprisingly, Tanya was at the top of the class. But Basseti was suspicious of these two new girls, taking mostly university-stream courses, who had _never_ taken his subject _and now_ had suddenly enrolled in Grade 12? But what could he do?

Basseti was suspicious that the two were taking shop just to meet boys. But to make such an accusation would be an extremely sexist thing to say! And the two girls looked angry enough when he merely asked them about their sudden interest in shop class.

While Sarah was seriously annoyed by Basseti's questioning their enrollment, Erica was furious. Ironically, it was Erica, who was, in part, using this as an opportunity to spend time with guys.

"Relax" Sarah told her as the girls went to the desks set in front of the blackboard in a corner of the long sprawling room. This "classroom" section was only separated from the rest of the shop by a long, low, wooden work counter. As for the remainder of the room, it was strictly practical. There were worktables here and there. But the remainder of the room was a series of drills, lathes, grinders, saws, torches, ventilation and exhaust fans.

"I'd be angry too, if I had been genuinely wanting to take shop" Sarah said.

"I don't take that sort of crap from anybody" Erica murmured angrily. "And I bet Basseti's all over that unfashionable Tanya Keno. You know there are days she goes to school in overalls? "

Erica was disappointed to see Sarah greet Tanya warmly. And react to that _cute_ Bill VanLake with disdain. Well, at least Sarah went and greeted the alliteratively named Tom Towers. Erica thought the lanky athlete was cute, although a bit dull. It was too bad he was never an immortal . . . .

Sarah considered Tanya friendly, although they had very little in common. As for Bill . . . he was not only full of himself, but a bully besides! Bill was the type of jock Ethan knew and despised! As for Tom, Sarah thought if Ethan knew him he'd change his opinion of jocks. The guy was dumb but courteous with everyone. Sarah had liked Tom _as a friend_ since elementary school . . . though like Tanya, Sarah found it difficult to talk much to him.

So Sarah and Erica sat on either side of Tom, who cracked his knuckles, what with having hot girls on either side of him. Knuckle-cracking was Tom Towers' pickup line. But although both girls liked Tom for either his looks or his personality, the real reason they sat with him was directly above Tom was an _enormous ventilation fan_.

Ethan had no idea who Tom Towers was. But Ethan had warned Sarah that the student sitting under the ventilation fan was going to be _crushed-to-death_ at 1:00 pm. Table second from the back, right hand side!

With the fall of the ventilation fan, all heck would break lose and several others members of the shop class would never make it out alive.

Erica was bored while Tom was discussing shop with Sarah before class. So she turned the subject to something more interesting . . . .

"Ever thought of vampires?" said Erica abruptly.

" _Huh? Oh,_ you mean those blood-sucking monsters that live in coffins?" said Tom, a bit confusedly. "What about them?"

"You're reading the wrong vampire books" Erica hinted, with a very disappointed expression.

Sarah covered her mouth with her hand. She was on the verge of laughing. Sure, Erica was close to breaking her promise about never encouraging anyone to be a vampire! But Tom was so obviously perplexed by this off-the-wall turn in the conversation . . . and so obviously uninterested in Erica's beloved topic!

"Uh, no" said Tom _._ "But how do you feel about westerns? You know, they're like action movies only they take place in the Old West? You know, it's too bad they don't make so many anymore. I have all of the great Westerns. Kate, the girl I used to date, and me used to watch them on our dates. I don't know who's better. "The Duke" or Eastwood. The "Dollar Trilogy" can't be beat, unless it's by, say _The Searchers_ or _True Grit_ . . . ."

"I can see why she only _used_ to date you" muttered Erica. "You have to get a life."

Sarah laughed at Erica's grimace as, after another look of surprise, Tom went on about his Westerns . . . .

"Don't worry Erica" Sarah _wanted_ to whisper. "If you put a vampire in a ten-gallon hat, I'm sure they won't burn even in the desert sun. But I don't know if horses and bloodsuckers get along."

But Sarah decided she couldn't be so obnoxious to her BFF.

* * *

Mr. Basseti reviewed the course syllabus and his expectations for upcoming projects. Part of the class followed the syllabus eagerly. The other students were impatient to actually start their projects.

Well, all but two of the other students. Erica was bored stiff. Sarah was looking for signs of the elusive gremlins.

And then, suddenly, there they were! Several tiny blue men in silver clothes, with large pointed red ears and bulbous noses; there they were walking along a water pipe. Sarah wanted to yell, to expose the creatures, but Sarah knew it wouldn't do much and only put everyone in even greater danger. So Sarah just kept her eyes on them.

The gremlins had evil smirks, that much Sarah could see. Definitely evil, and not only because Sarah knew what they were up to. It looked as if the creatures were quietly snickering, their sharp teeth and taught green lips stretched into wide leers.

"LOOK UP" Sarah scrawled atop her syllabus, and passed it along to Erica. Erica obliged, and even _her_ eyes widened in surprise.

"Those things are so gross" she said in disgust.

Tom Towers, seeing the paper and hearing Erica, let his mind abandon contemplation of upcoming projects and looked up.

"WHAT THE . . . ." he started aloud, causing everyone to look his way.

Even several of the gremlins. They had been milling about that large ventilation fan on the ceiling, a box-like structure that drew out the dusk and sawdust. Sarah realized that the gremlins were further along than she had given them credit! They had, somehow, pulled tiny silver hammers, wrenches and screwdrivers out of thin air. And those gremlins who weren't using their tools, were chewing at the fan's supports with their small, dagger-like teeth.

Sarah grasped that nothing; nuts, bolts, screws, nails, parts both imperial and metric, machinery and structures either riveted or welded, wood or steel . . . nothing was beyond the destructive power of those gremlins.

Sarah heard a cold voice coming from one of the gremlins along the fan. This was the "king gremlin', judging by his silver crown and his relaxed attitude while his followers did the work.

"Alright men. The stupid, tall, lanky one in the middle. Let's see his guts. Let's see his blood pool on the floor."

There was no time to be lost. Sarah toppled Tom Towers over, chair and all. Erica also ducked, and dragged Tom further away from that deadly spot.

Sarah's karate and experience fighting monsters had come into handy. Although the evil curse had left her, the know-how she gained was one of the colossal jokes good had pulled on the evil forces.

Tom's life, and the ventilation fan, had been hanging from a thread . . . or, really, a solitary metal rivet. With a mighty crash, the fan fell onto the table, breaking it into splinters.

Safe on the floor, Sarah and Erica heard the scramble as Mr. Basseti tried to regain control.

"Okay, quiet class" Basseti said. "We've had a . . . bit of an accident. First things first, are you three okay? Sarah, Erica, Tom?"

Basseti hadn't seen the gremlins. In fact nobody but the three teens on floor had seen the gremlins. Of the three, Tom Towers wasn't good with monsters. Tom had turned pale white, and was staring at the angry little demons shaking their fists at him from up on the ceiling.

"Never mind help! What about those things?" said Tom. "Can't anyone hear or see them! Little men crawling on the ceiling!"

But no one could. Although everyone but the intolerable Bill was too polite after the "accident" to laugh at Tom and what seemed like a wild hallucination.

"Just sit tight you three and we'll get a nurse" said Basseti as he approached. "Don't move! You'll be safe, there's nothing more that can fall."

This was terrible advice with gremlins around and a room full of potentially deadly equipment. But Sarah guessed, correctly, that Basseti was worried about broken bones or head-wounds after that close call. Which, in ordinary circumstances would be okay . . . but not now!

"But don't you hear them scampering!" insisted Tom helplessly. "They're threatening to kill me!"

"This place has rats in the basement, you moron" said Bill. "Everyone knows that. That's all that scampering is."

Sarah now realized that you had to have had made direct eye contact to see the gremlins or even so much as hear them speak. With Ethan, a seer it may well have been different. But the gremlins were invisible and inaudible to everyone else unless one was looking for them _and_ sighted them.

So that's why while Basseti sent Tanya to get help (the intercom having been disconnected by the gremlins), only Sarah, Erica and Tom could hear the angry threats.

"Bring down the room!" said King Gremlin, jumping about as angry as he could be. "That's the dame that brought down half of all that was foul in the city! The one who dared use the bloodsuckers' curse for good! And now she spared the boy who I chose as my first kill in many a year. That meddling, oh-so _pure-hearted_ heroine won't escape us!"

"Huh?" said Tom.

"You have a reputation among these creatures" Erica told Sarah dryly.

"I guess word gets around" Sarah observed in kind.

There wasn't any more time for talk. The gremlins fell into an all out attack. The blackboard suddenly collapsed upon Basseti, knocking him out and hiding him from view. From across the room, a table saw started revolving by itself . . . the circulating blade lifting off, flying towards the students, and nearly decapitating the no-longer laughing Bill.

"Sprinklers, Erica" said Sarah. "And this time, we can't rely on a lucky lighter toss. Tom, we need you too. Get everyone to go under their desks. As if a gang of outlaws had rode into town!"

"Shootout everyone!" said Tom bringing himself to hit feet and being hit in the face by a plank. "Ouch, you know, everyone behind the bar."

"Under the tables you idiot" said Erica as she began crawling along the floor with Sarah toward the fire alarm.

"Under the tables you idiots" said Tom, who dived underneath the nearest one himself.

As the old saying went, forewarned was forearmed. For the teenagers in the room, it was like a hurricane had broke loose. What with pipes bursting, the exhaust fans collapsing, and machinery flying across the room. But aside from the occasional . . . and extremely dangerous rotating saw-blade . . . the students were safe enough cowering under their desks.

Sarah and Erica were not as safe as the others. The two were the key targets of the foiled monsters. The girls would have been doomed, had it not been for the fact that long work counter separated the "classroom" section of the shop from the machinery in the rest of the room. This shielded them from several of the gremlins most dangerous missiles.

Sarah grimly realized that if she had wanted to prove that human girls were as good monster-hunters as seers, spellmasters and geeks . . . this was her big chance!

The "murder" of gremlins sent an array of wood slivers, runaway saw blades, and metal rods. Erica dodged a screwdriver and a couple wooden table legs flying through the air like a daggers.

"That's just fine" Erica snapped. "I'm not longer a vampire and I'm still in danger of being staked."

Fortunately, that heavy wooden counter was protecting the girls . . . so far. But the gremlins now became all the more energetic. Seemingly appearing everywhere. They were so hectic that, if Sarah was able to look around she'd see a few _other_ students were finally catching glimpses of the creatures in spite of those pint-sized demons' efforts to remain invisible.

Tanya had her mouth open wide in shock, while Bill has a quizzical, _exceptionally-stupid_ expression. Those two ducked, as actually _seeing_ the gremlins made them targets of those murderous fiends.

That said, the gremlins weren't _that_ phased by their partial unmasking . . . they continued to grin fiendishly and swear constantly. King Gremlin seemed to pop up everywhere at once. But oddly enough, the gremlins didn't attack the sprinkler system. They must have considered damaging a water-pipe to be pointless.

But the power went out as the "little men" began to chew through the various electrical lines in the room . . . .

* * *

Elsewhere in the school, Ethan, Benny and Rory were impatiently sitting at their computers as their teacher, Mr. Kimoni, went over the yawn-worthy syllabus. If they had to be stuck in class . . . couldn't they at least do some actual computing!

And to make matters worse, it was now almost five after one, _and still no sound of the fire alarm!_

"I'm going in" said Ethan to Benny and Rory. "I'll ask to go to the washroom and make my way over to that shop class."

"Why you?" said Benny. "I'm the spellmaster."

"I'm also the guy Mr. Kimoni's likely to believe when I ask to leave the room" said Ethan bluntly. "He remembers when you used gong to the washroom as an excuse to leave school."

"Dude!" Benny objected. "They had a three-for-one sale at the pizzeria! And it ended at three o'clock!"

"What about me?" said Rory.

Ethan was going to reply Rory was too gullible, and could get himself seriously hurt if he went in alone against those shrewd demons. But Ethan remembered another reason Rory couldn't go, something that was far less insulting to his second-to-best friend.

"You've been showing that selfie you took with Krypto to everyone who'd look" Ethan told Rory. "Which is cool. But you've also been saying you can't wait to go home and see him again, as this is the first time you two've been parted."

"So Kimoni'll think Rory's also going to skip" Benny said, amused.

Ethan was able to get out of class. Unfortunately, he ran straight into Principal Hicks and the janitor outside the washrooms.

"Welcome back from summer vacation, Ethan" said Principal Hicks, as he sipped coffee from his "Greatest Principal" mug. "But what are you doing in the hall this time of day? I would have thought you, of all boys, would be excited about finally taking a class in computer science?"

"I, uh, was going to the washroom" Ethan explained lamely.

"It's closed" said the janitor. "Some student decided to cherry bomb a toilet."

"Don't look at me!" Ethan protested.

"We weren't, Ethan" said the janitor.

"I discussed this last year with Ethan" said Hicks, mostly to the janitor. "He and his friends have an odd style of prank. They set up loud alarms in the principal's office, fill a computer laboratory with tree branches as part of strange experiment. Or Ethan's goes along with Benny and Rory as they spray another student with water pistols. Nothing too dangerous, but it worries me about their future."

"Uh, thanks?" said Ethan, uncertainly.

"The kid must have had too much of the cook's new chili" suggested the janitor. "I swear when that Stephanie's cooking, she seems to _want to_ give everyone heartburn."

"You'll have to use the washrooms near the shop cl . . . ." said Principal Hicks.

He was interrupted by the fire alarm.

Ethan looked up gratefully. It was about time Sarah set it off! But Ethan was careful not to say anything that would show Hicks that he had been expecting this. The last thing Ethan needed was Hicks to blame him for whatever went down in the shop class. As it was, Ethan lucked into the perfect alibi . . . talking to the principal!

* * *

The gremlins had done a large amount of damage in very little time. The fluorescent lighting standards had crashed to the floor. The gremlins had knocked down the rest of the chewed out metal ductwork and machinery.

But King Gremlin had been incompetent in his efforts to get Sarah and Erica. Had he ordered his men to physically hit them with sledgehammers, as the Gremlins did in the old cartoons, things might have been different. But in that evil creature's defense, Sarah and Erica had the gremlins in view. An attack would have led several of his followers get throttled . . . although a few would have surely gotten through.

The king gremlin finally realized that Sarah and Erica aimed to pull the fire alarm. He was amused.

"Go ahead, little girls" he sneered condescendingly. "I love the noise!"

King Gremlin went so far as to hold out his hands, halting his followers as they all watched the pair make the dash up to pull the alarm, a couple feet above the counter.

The alarm went off..

"Sprinklers and clangings and sirens!" laughed King Gremlin, jumping down onto the counter.

He poked his head over and making a leer at the Erica and Sarah. The two girls were furious at the creature's presumptions and murderous attempts.

"A lot of good the fire alarm'll do when we lower the roof atop you and chew you from limb to limb! Get rid of the vampires, will you? Destroy our factory, will you? Prevent you boyfriend's little sister from being carted off to the netherworld, will you?"

"Destroy a murder of gremlins, we will" Sarah replied coldly. "With a little help from our friends and _all_ that's good in the world."

King Gremlin chewed on these words and realized too late that he was about to be the victim of some type of secret weapon. Too late the gremlin king realized what that secret was as he heard the other gremlins scream in agony as they were sprinkled to death with holy water.

King Gremlin too screamed, but in his last effort threw his crown away. The crown slipped off the counter and into a drawer aside the girls.

"Was he trying to kill us with that thing?" asked Sarah.

But she quickly turned her head as the school custodian, Principal Hicks and Ethan arrived at the door.

The custodian and Hicks (finally putting down his mug) went to revive Basseti and help what students they could. Ethan was sent to the main office for help. And Ethan hadn't any time to do anything but give Sarah a quick thumbs-up before he ran off on the errand.

Sarah then went to Hick's side to see what she could do to help. Yet it might have been wiser if Sarah had ensured Erica had _also_ joined her principal's side. Because it was during those moments that Erica noticed the tiny silver crown still intact, it had completely escaped the sprinklers.

"Try to kill me, King Gremlin" she observed coolly. "This thing'll be a nice souvenir. But why couldn't it have been gold? These gremlins have no taste. But sterling silver _will do_ as a bit of decoration. With a hole punched through this thing, it'll look nice on my key-chain."

* * *

And that's what Erica did after school. She had Tom Towers accompany her to the jeweler. Tom was grateful she attended him and talked him out of his "hallucinations" of little blue men. And she was unbelievably hot.

Erica too thought Tom should be grateful. She and Sarah had indefinitely postponed Tom Towers' demise. Besides, where else was Tom going to find a girl that was as tall and as hot as her?

"You're definitely watching too many tumbleweeds" Erica told Tom as he put his arm around her in the movie theatre that evening (the _Empire_ , not the _Westdale_ ). "This movie will get your mind to better things . . . like me."

She rested her head on his shoulder.

"I guess it will" he said dazedly, but suddenly shuddered as he glimpsed something in the dim light. "But you mind putting your key-chain away. I swear, that crown-thing you have seems to be laughing at us."

"You just can't see well in the dark. You're stressed out by the day" Erica told him in a soothing tone.

A bit wistfully, Erica thought about what Tom would have been like had he been an immortal, like Edwin of _Dusk_ "fame". With Tom's face contorted by a bloodsucker's curse, fangs protruding through his gums, his eyes glowing a sickly yellow and . . . and . . . his skin sparkling in the sun.

Had Erica said that aloud, Tom would have said a hasty goodbye and avoided Erica for the rest of his life. He'd probably have puked for good measure.

Tom may have been stupid, but he wasn't crazy.

More to the point, dim as he was, Tom was right about that crown. By preserving that tiny ring of silver for her key-chain, Erica had inadvertently saved the vicious gremlin king's unhallowed life.


	4. Homework on the First Day of School

**Chapter Four – Homework on the First Day of School**

Ethan, Sarah, Benny and Rory were on the same page that evening. It had been a perfect day!

Benny and Rory were slightly disappointed they hadn't actually seen any of the gremlins. But, what are you going to do? There had been enough enjoyment in just the planning . . . and even in the carting of the holy water into the sprinkler system.

"This is like a record for us" Benny observed to Ethan that afternoon, over their web-link. "Gremlins seen, trapped and killed. _Under_ 26 hours. But dude, that math teacher! She wastes the whole class talking about what's on the syllabus, and then assigns homework!"

"What's the deal?" said Ethan, looking at his textbook. "This is easy. No more than a half-hour's work."

"It's the principle" Benny complained. "Wasting the class then making us do work at home. On the first day. Dude! Talk about evil!"

"I guess we'd better get started" said Ethan sarcastically. "If she's Whitechapel-brand evil, she'll boil us in oil and steal our souls if we don't do our homework."

"You just want to hurry so you contact Sarah over _her_ computer" Benny said mischievously.

* * *

Ethan talked to Sarah for a good forty minutes, although Rory and Krypto had arrived for dinner in the meantime. Rory had also brought his homework along to Ethan to look over before facing their "Sith-Klingon-Cylon combo" (Rory's words) or "fart-head" (Benny's description) of a teacher, Ms. Steele.

* * *

Ethan didn't think Rory needed him to look over his homework, let alone _Benny_ asking Ethan for a review. But Ethan went along with it . . . it was the only the first day of school.

With homework done, Benny and Rory went to watch television with Ethan before dinner. They were the Morgan's guests.

This was part of Samantha Morgan's way of paying back Evelyn for the picnic lunch. _And_ repaying Benny's mother for Ethan's two weeks spent at her Toronto home. Not to mention the Keeners for Ethan's invitation to Rory's birthday party the week before.

Why tonight? It wasn't only the first day of school, Benny was home alone as it was Evelyn's Bingo night.

Samantha was amused by the fact Rory was overjoyed whenever he was served anything with garlic these days. So for the first time in her life, Samantha made roast beef and gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, Yorkshire pudding _and_ garlic toast.

It was only too bad Ross Morgan wasn't expected home that night, as those were some of his favourites . . . . although he didn't care much for garlic either way.

* * *

The three teens were in the living room arguing about the television set.

"Why don't you just download the newscast later?" said Rory, relaxing on the sofa. "If your Mom and Dad still want a DVD they can use realplayer and Windows DVD maker?"

"You don't need a DVD" laughed Benny. "All you need to do is wait and save it on a flashdrive."

"Mom and Dad want a DVD" said Ethan, with a shrug. "And Dad's going to be on the news tonight. So am I. We may as well save in real time."

"Well, at least you can pause the picture with your DVR while we're watching" said Rory.

Rory wasn't interested in the news (yawn!) . . . but it was something to see _your_ high school on television. _And_ your friend and his Dad.

"Mom!" called Ethan. "Dad's going to be on!"

Samantha and Jane Morgan were in time to see the newscast. Ethan had his image, as he stood solemnly by the fire chief, police chief, Principal Hicks, and the superintendent of the board of education.

"Consulting you for your advice?" Ethan's mother asked jokingly.

"More like in the right place at the right time" Ethan said. "I ran into Principal Hicks before the place fell apart."

Ethan's father was later described as a "lead insurance adjuster", shown with a frown on his face inspecting the damage, along with someone identified as the insurance company's chief underwriter.

* * *

"Do you think your Dad's going to approve the claim?" said Rory, feeding Krypto a few dog biscuits after the three teens had marked the DVD and put it away.

Rory casually looked at the ingredients. "Man, you think a cool dog like Krypto would have better taste than to eat anything with liver in it!"

"That's just the way dogs are, pal" said Ethan. "As for Dad, if he can find a reasonable way it'll be covered under the policy, he'll approve the claim. He's expert."

"Your Dad's soft, dude" Benny said. "He _always_ approves the claim when something weird happens. Uh . . . hi, Mr. Morgan."

Benny realized with a wince that Ross Morgan had just then entered the front door, and had been standing _a few feet behind_ when Benny called him "soft".

"I'm not so soft" Ross said irritably. "And you'll be disappointed to know we're denying the claim. We've just made that public, a half-hour ago."

"Why?" asked Ethan.

"The _actual reason_ is because shop classes aren't as cheap to fix as ice cream parlours and basements filled with fish" said Ross, who seemed in a bad temper. "The _legal reason_ is we're claiming the school board was negligent to allow massive structure decay and damage to wiring. So we're not required to reimburse. The school board is going to blame Stern, since no one's seen him since that gas explosion at the old Masonic Lodge. He's the designated scapegoat."

"What gas explosion?" asked Rory, before it finally dawned on him. "Oh, you mean the luci . . .oof."

Rory was elbowed on either side by Benny and Rory.

"The gas explosion" Rory finished lamely, as he looked about and _finally_ remembered that the _real_ cause of the destruction of the old Masonic Lodge (aka Vampire HQ) was a secret.

" _I got it, Mr. Morgan_ " said Benny. " _You were overruled_. That's why you're angry! Your boss made you deny the claim!"

"Pretty much" Ross Morgan admitted. "We were looking at well over a million dollars."

"Don't worry Dad" said Ethan. "The board will probably cover it. And they still can't do without you."

"The school board will cover it" said Ross. "And you're right, _the company can't_ do without me. But this . . . mess . . . means the school board intends to cancel their plans for the new gym. The _Whitechapel Devils_ could have finally been playing in a first-class gym. But the money's going for a rush job on a new shop instead.

"A new gym wouldn't have helped us win any trophies" said Ethan.

"There's nothing like a new gym to raise school spirit, Ethan" said Ross moodily as he left for the kitchen.

As Ethan would have willingly traded a new gym for a better shop class, he was happy . . . but Ethan was careful to hide this from his father.

"Krypto, DUDE!" shouted Rory.

Krypto had jumped on the table and was chewing up the math homework. It wasn't a total loss. The notepaper was just covered with teeth marks, a few small holes, and a lot of puppy drool.

"This just shows that assigning homework the first day of school is _evil_ " Benny said triumphantly. "Let's take it in tomorrow anyway. _As is_. If Ms. Steele wants it handed it, the joke'll be on her."

"It'll be cool" said Rory. "We'll be the only ones who can say the dog ate our homework. And show the homework."

Ethan was skeptical about starting the term by giving Ms. Steele dog-chewed homework. It was about as smart as calling your English teacher "fart-head". But, Ethan didn't feel like rewriting it and _chances were_ Ms. Steele wasn't going to be collecting it.

And Benny was right! Homework the first day of school was definitely _evil_! If Krypto _was_ an evil-detecting dog – didn't his chewing on it prove it?

* * *

Elsewhere, a far more potent evil was springing into action.

When Erica went to bed, late that evening, she had left her key-chain on her dresser. About midnight, the tiny silver crown glimmered and growing out of it like a mould was the king gremlin. Clothes, boots, and all.

The gremlin laughed, and bit through the tiny steel ring, pulling off his crown and tossing the rest of the keys aside. The hole-punch in his crown quickly repaired itself.

The king gremlin first rubbed his hands gleefully, and thought to drop a book on himself so as to multiply. But _even_ gremlins have standards, and Erica's school texts were nowhere to be seen.

Instead, Erica had special hardcover leather-bound copies of _Dusk_ in her room.

The gremlin made a face. Even he couldn't be so craven! Besides, although it was a little dull, and a little time-consuming, _perhaps it was time he used **his** secret weapon. _

The gremlin hopped quietly onto the sleeping Erica's shoulder. Except for the fact the gremlin was blue and not red, it was very much in cartoons where a devil sits on one's shoulder giving bad advice.

"Now, Erica my dear" he said, in a silky voice. "Tell the king your troubles! I'll tell you who is to blame. And I'll tell you how and when to kill them. But hurry up! I have four more stops to make!"


	5. Diabolical Mental Sabotage

**Chapter Five – Diabolical Mental Sabotage**

Evelyn Weir was in a great mood that night. And not only because she scored two Bingos! No, it was a wonderful thing to know that your grandson and his friends had defeated a "murder" of gremlins; a murder that had plagued the Whitechapel Shoe Factory when she was only a little girl.

Evelyn, who had a sense of much that went on in Whitechapel, had known the gremlins were angry and looking for victims. She presumed they would attack the high school, as that was a usual place for evil creatures to work their schemes. By a happy "coincidence", evil creatures _also_ tended to attack high schools attended by spellmasters, seers and their friends.

Good being more powerful than evil, evil often fell into traps of that sort. As Evelyn had explained to Ethan and Benny a few months before, when it came to good versus evil, good had _home ice advantage_.

Evelyn heard about the damage to the shop-class from a "Bingo buddy" (Benny's description of Evelyn's friend Mrs. Wong). Like Sarah, Evelyn felt it had been risky to use Tom Towers, Tanya Keno and Bill Vanlake as live bait. Yet, it was _still_ a reasonable way to ensure _all_ the gremlins were destroyed. Evelyn, as always, preferred to let the teens learn how to destroy monsters by themselves . . . unless and until they needed her help.

Still, "Team Sabre" was still relatively new at this, and it was a big victory! And Evelyn was pleased at how fast the gremlins were vanquished! Atop that was a grandmotherly feeling at how well the friends worked along despite their quirks. Then there was Benny's increased ability with his magic, Ethan's greater skill in managing his seer's gift, and Sarah and Rory's renewed lease on life after having been unwilling (Sarah) and unwitting (Rory) subjects of the bloodsucking curse.

The fact that Erica had temporarily quit sulking about losing her "dream life" _and actually helped_ was icing on the cake!

Evelyn also watched the relationship between Sarah and Ethan with, again, grandmotherly interest. Evelyn felt it was more than "puppy love". But were the high-school sweethearts destined to be together for life?

As Evelyn had advised Ethan, Benny, and Rory, when they imprudently pursued a rogue vision a few months before, most of the future was better left unknown until it happened. Too much knowledge of things-to-come could destroy their lives!

Most things in the future were better left off unknown. Neverthless, tt would have definitely been better if Evelyn has known that Erica had taken the King Gremlin's crown as a souvenir!

Evelyn knew that a king gremlin could use his crown to regenerate _and be free to use the vilest trick in his arsenal._

Gremlins couldn't "glamour" anyone, the vampire method of mind-control. Or "vampire hypnotism" as Rory called it . . . and Benny too, once he discovered it drove _certain_ vampires nuts to call it by that name.

But a _King_ Gremlin could talk to a person while they slept. And twist around their subconscious minds . . . their wishes, their disappointments, their hopes _to his liking_. And the subconscious mind, the "id", was capable of being warped. The gremlin's tactics locked out a person's judgement; the conscious mind was supernaturally prevented from exerting control.

* * *

So the King Gremlin sat, talked and manipulated. Had she been awake, Erica would surely have screamed to see the blue creature sitting atop her white nightgown . . . a gown made in the same style worn by the "heroine" in Dusk. And Erica would definitely have despised how the gremlin used her blonde locks as a pillow.

But Erica wasn't awake. She was forced to mutter her replies . . . _and her inner-most secrets_ . . . to that vicious, pint-sized imp resting his head upon her hair.

"It seems to _me_ that Ethan has intentionally set out to make your life miserable" said King Gremlin, in a tone of false sympathy.

 _Cartoonish_ was the word for the villain. The King Gremlin had used his ability to pull-up tools from empty space to find a pencil and notepad.

"Ethan wouldn't do that" Erica admitted sullenly as she dozed. "Ethan's just so, "everyone has to be okay". "I want my friends to be okay." "We can't have anything interesting happening if it's evil or if doesn't involve spaceships, aliens or Spiderman."

"And what about the rest of this so-called Team SA-bre" said the gremlin. "Sarah, Benny and Rory. You've already mentioned Ethan."

"And now Sarah's _so happy_ " continued Erica. "It's _so cool_ to see her happy, but it's so hard that my BFF won't even try to come halfway. She knows how much it means to me, but she can't bring herself to say anything good about being an immortal. Even in the days when I wasn't popular, Sarah would always support me. But what's worse is that _she just won't listen to reason_. Not only about being immortal, but _everything._ Sarah might have any guy she wants and she goes for the geekiest. Well, Rory and Benny might be even geekier than Ethan, but that's beside the point."

"What about this Benny?" tried the gremlin.

"Just Ethan's jerk friend" Erica complained. "But to hang out with Sarah, means to be around Ethan. And being around Ethan, means Benny. Benny still _totally_ has the hots for me. It's so irritating, really."

"And that idiot Rory?" asked the King Gremlin.

"Rory was the only vampire newb who could . . . in his own stupid way . . . see the fun in it. But within a week after Rory was cured, Ethan and Benny changed his mind and he went on to other things" Erica concluded. " _It's so hard to hear_. I should have expected it. Rory didn't understand the _romance,_ the lore, just the "superpowers." Always the powers, I should have realized it at the time, he was living a comic-book fantasy, a secret identity. But it's like salt on a wound."

"Whether Ethan is targeting you or not" suggested the gremlin, "he's to blame. Ethan _deserves to die_. And you needn't wakeup to kill him."

That was the most insidious part of the gremlin's power. It wasn't exactly mind control, but a form of hypnotism _that would force his victims to do his bidding in their sleep_.

As the gremlin knew, the _natural, psychological_ rule that someone couldn't hypnotised into doing something they wouldn't do while awake _would not_ apply. All five _could kill_ . . . even if, aside from Erica, the teens had only ever killed monsters, and only evil monsters at that. But asleep, the five of them could be twisted to trying to attack people. They might not be _morally responsible_ , mere automatons, but they'd be killing _their friends_ all the same.

"But how will I kill him?" asked Erica. "I can do some damage with the karate I've been taking. But I can't even bite Ethan anymore?"

The King of the Gremlins thought the idea of Erica trying to kill Ethan by biting him was funny. _So he encouraged Erica to bite him._

"I'll take care of the rest" the gremlin hinted, as he put away his notepad. "Just be sure to be on time to kill him. In the park next to Ethan's house, 3:00am."

* * *

Sarah was next. Having gone to the same elementary school as Erica, Sarah's home was close by. It was still summer, albeit late in the season, so Sarah was peacefully slumbering in her set of short-sleeve pajamas. This image would have burned so hard into Ethan's mind that he would've had trouble picturing quadratic functions for a week.

The gremlin didn't care, but he was infuriated to find that Sarah was extremely hard to manipulate. Sarah was the life so long and so unfairly denied her. As for her relations with other people? Sarah had a quick wit, but tended to hold back unless someone deserved it. Sarah's worst enemy? He was dead and buried. Most of her subconscious ire were now directed at a few jerks in school who had either mistreated Erica in the past or were purposely obnoxious to Ethan in the present. But that was just high school.

As for the jerks who bothered Ethan, Sarah told the gremlin that Ethan had to face them himself.

"What if Ethan were cool? said the gremlin, who saw an opening. "What if he was? Then Erica wouldn't be so down his being your boyfriend. Ethan wouldn't have this grudge against the school jocks. Then everything _really would_ be perfect."

"Ethan is Ethan" said Sarah bluntly, at least as bluntly as she could in their sleep. "He wouldn't be the same guy if he didn't love sci-fi and superheroes."

"True" said the gremlin amicably, although he had an evil leer on his blue features. "But what if he wasn't so _carried away_ with this stuff? Those superhero and space films are popular. But Ethan wouldn't be _so obsessed_ with them if it weren't for Benny and Rory. They're pulling him down! Benny's an overgrown jerk and Rory's a bumbling idiot. Ethan'd appear a lot more popular _freed_ from them. He would, at worst, be a quiet guy and not a notable geek. _But probably_ , he'd be as cool as you know _he deserves to be_. And ten-times more romantic!"

The gremlin, now privy to Sarah's innermost secrets, mentioned to Sarah that _he too_ could picture Ethan as a mounted policeman, romantically dressed in red serge, wide-brimmed hat and Stetson hat.

The gremlin continued on for some time. Finally, Sarah was subconsciously convinced that Ethan had to be saved from his friends, for his own good. The best way to do it was for Sarah to use her karate skills to beat Benny and Rory to a pulp . . . or just beat them to surrender. In the park, next to Ethan's house, at three o'clock in the morning.

* * *

The distance between Sarah and Ethan's house was the largest the gremlin had to transverse. Sarah and Erica had gone to a different elementary school from Ethan, Benny and Rory, so the gremlins was crossing from one (elementary) school district into another. But that wasn't what concerned him as he rapidly made the park near Ethan's house. No, it was whether Ethan, a seer, would wake. Would the seer anticipate the gremlin's attack?

But between the first day of school; a murder of gremlins; and the combination of garlic bread, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding for dinner; Ethan had a very long day. So Ethan was _slow_ to wake up from a very deep, very peaceful sleep. When he did, it was with a start and a feeling of dread. As if there was something evil in his room!

"What the heck's that?" said Ethan, as he sat up in bed. "Anyone . . . _anything_ there?"

But Ethan's eyes had trouble adjusting to the dim light, and his brain had trouble focusing after a sound sleep.

"It must be my imagination" Ethan yawned. "But . . . but . . . I'm a seer . . . I guess I can't just say it's my imagination like other people do? It may be something important!"

"It is something important" said the King Gremlin. "But it's too late for you to do anything about it."

The gremlin hit Ethan on the head with the large end of his telescope.

Normally, when a person is knocked unconscious with a telescope they're facing a _dangerous_ situation. A knockout, any knockout, means the brain has crashed into the side of the skull cavity thereby overloading the nervous system and causing a loss of consciousness and temporary paralysis. The end result could be a concussion, maybe even death!

However, a gremlin's powers included the ability to strike with the right amount of force to put someone into a faint without any more damage than a lump on their head.

"Now, seer, you can't try any of _your_ tricks on me" the gremlin told the unconscious Ethan with relish. "But let me do you a favour, dear boy. You're very happy now, aren't you? You can answer me now, for that a knockout is as good as a nap!"

"Of course I'm happy" said Ethan, as if by rote. "I'm in Grade 11, okay summer vacation's over but this year's going to be the best yet. All the damage Jesse did to my friends is over. I'm dating Sarah and she's finally human again! Rory's also back to his old human self. They've . . . we've all got everything to look forward in a full life. There's Team Sabre and the monster-hunting's never been better run. This month was full, but I'm hoping it's more every now and then than every week."

"You forgot about Erica, Ethan" said the gremlin.

"Well, she's had a tough time" said Ethan sympathetically. "She's nuts, but I see how she got that way. It's as if . . . ."

"She's dangerous, Ethan" said the gremlin. "And you've promised to help make her a vampire again. And what if you do? What's going to happen to your friends? How can you trust her?"

"If she wants to be a vampire again, she has to go through me" said Ethan. "To make the trade. A pint of my blood for her being infected but not drained."

"And then what?" said the gremlin. "What makes you sure she won't double-cross you? One bite, Ethan. That's all it takes to turn someone into a vampire. She'll go biting Sarah first, her BFF. Then she'll turn Rory again. But that may not satisfy her! Maybe you and Benny. You'll all be bloodsuckers, unhappily-ever-after. Until you're finally put out of your unholy un-death and put to dust."

"No" Ethan objected.

"Or maybe you'll be able to effect another cure?" said the king of the gremlins with the most vicious sneer. "It was _so_ easy the first time! Will you again find the elusive reversal-cure, the cure-all for all that is evil? Could you possibly make the potion yourself . . . _that_ potion is beyond even Evelyn Weir's power? Or will you manage to drain the dark energy from the town . . . or at least yourself? And will you be able to do it while you're still young enough to _survive_ being cured? Or will you manage to combine a youth potion and a de-vamping potion and surprise everybody?"

The gremlin was satisfied to see Ethan's look of worry.

"You need to save Sarah, you need to save Sarah!" said the gremlin. "Her above all!"

"I need to save Sarah" said Ethan.

"Kill Erica" said the gremlin.

"I can't do that"

"That's the only way. She's free of the curse, she may as well die as a human being. Isn't that better than her ruining countless lives through the centuries? Just think how Sarah will love the idea of her life being destroyed _again_ . . . ."

"No fracking way" said Ethan, vehemently. "But . . . but Erica? How can I get rid of her?"

"Use your light sabre."

"It only works on bloodsuckers."

"It'll work on anyone!" said the gremlin, faking surprise. "You're a Jedi knight, a member of Team Sabre! And you're saying that your light sabre won't work!"

"The light sabre will work."

With Erica trying to ineffectually bite Ethan, and Ethan using his light-sabre to poke at her, the King Gremlin anticipated a preposterous battle as the two ineffectually tried to kill one another. That would be fun for him to watch!

The gremlin only needed Ethan, Sarah, and Erica to be there . . . so they could be killed. It was Benny whom the gremlin determined would do the killing.

* * *

Benny slept soundly as the gremlin sat by his computer.

"You're an awesome spellmaster!" said the gremlin in a low tone. "The best!"

"I'm an awesome spellmaster" repeated Benny, with some pride. "The best."

"Not so loud" the gremlin hissed, "your grandma may come in and spoil my fun."

"Grandma spoils your fun" said Benny by rote.

"But you're the coolest" said the gremlin.

"I'm the coolest" repeated Benny.

"But why does everyone make fun of your magic?" asked the gremlin. "They have no right to scoff and scorn such a cool and awesome spellmaster!"

"They have no right to scoff and scorn such a _cool_ and _awesome_ spellmaster!" Benny said with a grimace.

As if he were twisting a knife, the gremlin repeated all the insults Benny had ever received over his less-than-masterful magical ability. Benny began to get furious, in spite of being asleep. Benny's conscious mind wasn't in charge; his personality, morality, his very ability to comprehend _why_ he didn't supernaturally curse his friends for those insults, all were out-of-commission.

So, all sorts of vengeful schemes rose in Benny's mind.

"Dude" said Benny as he slept. "I'm going to put worms in their ears. For twenty-four hours. That'll teach them to respect my awesomeness. And I might get some spellmaster-groupie babes too, once they see how cool my magic is!"

"No, that's not what you want" said the gremlin. "You want your inside-out . . . ."

"Buddy, no!" Benny objected. "Do you know what that look like?"

"Try it on me!" said the gremlin.

"It'll kill you" said Benny.

"It won't kill me" the gremlin said. "Try."

"I have to look-it-up" said Benny.

"Be quick!" said the gremlin.

Benny stumbled out of his bed, and sleep-walking, grabbed the spellbook and flipped quickly to the inside-out spell.

Benny recited it; the spell was a long one. " _Et occurrent vobis mala te tua prolapsam visceribus pelle detracta et inrigatio ossum tuorum_."

Benny made a complex hand gesture and aimed his right fist at the gremlin. Even in his sleep, Benny instinctively winced.

The spell's effects were gruesome, even when aimed at that diabolical imp. The skin was pulled off the gremlin's body in an instant, as the king gremlin's bones, veins and organs pushed out of the interior loosely pulsing in-time to the now external heart. An inside-out brain enveloped the skull, the face on the inside and useless.

But all this was only for an instant. There was nothing holding this chaotic mass of tissue together. It quickly disintegrated into a pile of blue power under a silver crown.

Sadly, the king gremlin quickly reformed. He stretched his joints, and took a vicious glance at Benny. But the gremlin resolved to stick to his plan. "At three o'clock this morning" the king gremlin said, "you'll do use the same trick on Ethan, Rory, Sarah and Erica. Now repeat it to me!"

"I'll get my revenge with Team Sabre . . . and Erica . . . for dissing my magic. At three o'clock."

"Very good" said the gremlin. "But don't use your inside-out spell too soon. I want to have some fun watching the fight. Wait for my signal!"

"I'll wait for your signal" said Benny.

"Very good" said the gremlin. "It's almost two o'clock. I just have hurry. Rory needs to join you in your grisly fate."

"Grisly fate" repeated Benny.


	6. Home Ice

**Home Ice**

The King Gremlin's plan for Rory was simple. The King knew Rory now hated the idea of being a vampire, and was as cheerful about no longer being a vampire as only Rory could be about anything. It wasn't just a coincidence that Rory's last name was Keener!

So, naturally, the King Gremlin planned to make Rory furious with Erica. Rory blamed Jesse for his being the human guest at the "vampire party"; but the gremlin decided it would be easy to get Rory to fault Erica. After all, she had been the one to bite him when Rory had as much intention of becoming a vampire as he had of turning into a sasquatch. Maybe less, all things considered.

If the gremlin had time, as it was now near two o'clock, he would also make Rory murderous in his feelings toward Ethan and Benny. Some guys have best friends, and some don't. Rory was one of those who didn't, he was "only" a second-best friend. The gremlin intended to tell Rory that it was a crime that such a cool guy didn't rate being best friend of either Ethan or Benny! This was a childish argument devoid of common-sense. But Rory was immature, and had trouble with common sense, so the gremlin had high hopes for the scheme.

In fact, Rory had never minded being the "second-best" friend. He liked to do some things by himself, which didn't interest Ethan or Benny. And they were still awesome friends, even if he was only second-best! Rory didn't realize "too much" of the Rorster sometimes grated on Ethan and Benny. But if Rory were inclined to blame anything, it was the fact Ethan and Benny were next-door neighbours while he lived a few blocks away.

* * *

Rory lived in a ranch-style bungalow on a quiet cul-de-sac, with the bucolic name of Orchard Crescent. Like Jesse had remarked sarcastically to Ethan about _Ethan's_ own house, Rory's street was named after what had once been there. Hipwell's Peach Orchard.

Rory's home had once had an attached garage, but when the Keeners bought it they turned _that_ garage into a master bedroom and built a new two-car garage behind. Rory thought his house was "okay", but boring compared with his friends. It would be awesome to have a second-floor room! But, one thing about it was cool. Rory had _the original_ master bedroom and his parents slept on the opposite end of his house! It was just too bad, given where he lived, Benny and Ethan rarely came over to hang out! It was usually Ethan's house – Ethan's room was bigger than Benny's and the two of them didn't have to walk home a couple blocks.

The gremlin went into Rory's room through an open window. He had to restrain himself from knocking down Rory's toys and models on the shelves, dresser and chest of drawers. Or, at the very least, tearing down the posters for _Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars_ , and the real-life _NASA_. Not to mention a chart comparing space-ships from all shows and movies. Or that poster for the group _Single Tear_ , whose music _even_ the gremlin thought was pathetic! The gremlin ended up satisfied merely breaking a digital picture frame displaying several recent selfies of Rory.

The gremlin sat upon Rory's model of the spaceship from _Star Trek_. Rory had once actually slept with it, as if it were teddy bear, but upon having his humanity restored Rory figured that was dumb for a teenage boy. So Rory simply placed it in a place of honour on the headboard of his bed.

"Now, talk to your pal, Rory" started the gremlin. "So, you are very happy not to be a vampire?"

"It's awesome" said Rory, although talking in his sleep his tone was modulated. "I now Sknow why Sarah had been so sad for such a long time. Man, you wouldn't believe how much bogus even the superpowers were when you figure I had to go around without seeing myself or taking selfies and _always_ hungry for blood. I can't believe what a major scam it was, the worst thing was every atom of me was infected with evil, no matter what I thought or did. You know what I found out when I visited Benny's grandma . . . ."

The gremlin never learned what Rory "found out." A gremlin, like many evil creatures, gives off a slight stench of rotten eggs . . . imperceptible to the human nose but not to Rory's Labrador retriever puppy Krypto. Naturally, Krypto slept in Rory's room. Krypto favoured sleeping under the bed, now free of the reeking vampire socks.

The puppy, devoted to his new master, wasn't pleased to discover the gremlin stealthily talking to Rory and clearly up to no-good. So Krypto growled and pounced on the bed and onto the gremlin.

If a gremlin could outsmart _Bugs Bunny_ , it could plainly get the better of Rory and a puppy . . . under ordinary circumstances. But the gremlin was depending on brainwashing Rory while he slept . . . .

In jumping on the King Gremlin, Krypto knocked the _Star Trek_ model onto Rory as well as the gremlin. Krypto then jumped onto the gremlin, barking at it and trying to worry its throat.

For Rory, this wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world; a dog stepping all over your face, the dog and the gremlin growling at one another. Eventually, the gremlin cursed and threw both puppy and master out of the bed.

This succeeded in waking Rory up from his brainwashing session, with nothing accomplished except reminding him in why he had changed his mind about being a vampire Not to mention a few scratches from Krypto's back paws and Rory's hair being messed-up.

Unlike Ethan, Rory woke instantly. But, then again, Ethan hadn't been thrown from his bed. Still, between the darkness and his nearsightedness, Rory couldn't see much more than a blue blur taunting him.

"What the heck Krypto?" said Rory, angrily.

Krypto retreated under Rory's bed. A good thing too, as the gremlin started swearing at Rory and throwing models and toys at him in his rage.

"My plan is ruined!" said the king gremlin angrily. "Now I'll have to kill you some other, less fun way! There isn't time to brainwash you now!"

Krypto growled angrily at the gremlin . . . from under Rory's bed.

"Huh? Ow!" said the confused Rory, as the gremlin threw a model of the space shuttle at him.

Rory reached for his night-table, put on his glasses and switched on the lamp.

That is, as he was hit with his _Vampire Sasquatch_ stuffed toy and narrowly missed being clobbered by a pair of night-vision goggles.

After a second, Rory's eyes came into focus and he realized he was looking at a crowned gremlin, and a hopping-mad one at that. Rory regrettably didn't put together he was looking at the king. But he fortunately remembered that a gremlin was very dangerous . . . they could outsmart _Bugs Bunny_!

Rory also retreated under the bed.

The gremlin was furious at his quarry's escape and began swearing. And just to be sadistic, the gremlin jumped to the poster comparing the spaceships in _Star Trek, Star Wars_ and _Battlestar Galactica_. The king gremlin tore if off the wall. The gremlin then ripped the poster into little pieces, letting the debris fall onto the floor.

The gremlin continued to swear threats at Rory as he jumped back to the headboard.

Rory had a view of a piece of the _Galactica_ and its attendant specs floating down in front of his eyes. It was as bad for Rory as if the gremlin had destroyed Ethan's collection of mint-condition toy robots or the assortment of US and Canadian licence plates Ethan had hanging in his rooms.

"Get your fracking claws off my stuff" Rory protested furiously, before adding as an afterthought. "And stop swearing! My Mom and Dad'll might hear and think I'm doing it and they'll ground me."

"You're a sixteen-year old baby" retorted the gremlin. "But you won't have to worry about Mommy or Daddy, you'll be crushed dead soon."

"Nuh-uh, you Warp 10 butthead!" Rory called out.

King Gremlin wondered if breaking apart the bed would kill Rory and his Labrador retriever, both hiding underneath. Maybe it wouldn't smother them, but it would at least trap them until he brought down the ceiling!

Rory petted the upset Krypto and then looked about under-the-bed. There was his light sabre that Ethan and Benny had handed him upon his being de-vamped! No, that only worked against vampires, even Rory knew that . . . it was awesome for playing Jedi, but only for _playing_ Jedi. But beside it . . . there was his water gun! And what had Rory done the day after Labour Day? Loaded the gun with some of the holy water he and Sarah had used in the school sprinkler system.

Rory grabbed the gun and quickly scrambled out from underneath his bed .

Here, again, the fact that good was stronger than evil . . . good had home ice . . . came into play. Sarah's time fighting monsters while under the bloodsucker's curse had left her with fighting skills that she was busy upgrading through karate. The joke good had pulled on evil with respect to Rory was that, de-cursed, he was very agile dodging . . . running or flying at super-speed for nearly two years had done that to him. Rory now managed to avoid most of the gremlin's missiles and now had the imp in his proverbial crosshairs.

The gremlin was still atop the headboard. It was an old-fashioned type of bed, one with sliding doors and a shelf behind the sleeper's head. The gremlin had merely managed to pull out a couple of nails before he began throwing _Star Wars_ novels and some sharp-edged action figures at Rory.

"Go ahead gremlin" said Rory, trying to sound cool, "Make my day . . . I, uh, mean night . . . uh, early morning?"

The gremlin laughed, and threw a handful of nails. Rory dodged, so his shot from the water gun went slightly wide. Nonetheless, splashing off the headboard a bit of water burned the creature's scalp, and knocked its crown onto Rory's _Star Trek_ sheets.

That shining silver crown turned badly tarnished in a second. The next second saw the return of the hole the jeweller had punched into it when Erica attached the keychain.

The King Gremlin screamed in a combination of rage, terror and fear.

"I'll be back for another raid, when I get a new crown made!" he said, in rhyme.

Now, Krypto returned from his hiding place. Both growling and barking.

The gremlin jumped out the window and vanished into the night.

* * *

Not too much was damaged, but Rory lamented the mess (his Mom and Dad would be angry about that!), his digital picture frame, and especially his coolest poster. But Rory was okay, and . . . .

"You okay Krpto?" Rory asked.

Krypto didn't exactly understand, but he barked his approval.

"That's what counts" Rory said, petting the dog. "But I guess now isn't the time to be laid-back. I've got to put this together. This is Team Sabre stuff."

Rory collected his naturally scattered thoughts.

That crown! That must be the King Gremlin. On that, Rory's first instinct was to try to put the tiny tarnished crown on his head or that of Kryto's, but remembering his resolution to be more careful decided against it. Rory remembered the trouble _that mask_ he wore had caused last Halloween! But a gremlin! How'd he get away! Rory had to call Ethan.

Rory was again using video calls whenever he could (he often used his computer webcam to talk to Benny and Ethan in their rooms too). But Rory found that he couldn't reach Ethan on his cell. This wasn't too much of a surprise. Rory remembered Ethan had what Rory considered the bad habit of turning off his smartphone during the night.

Benny didn't turn off his smartphone, but Rory couldn't reach him either. So what could Rory do? Something desperate! Go old-school and call their landline. Rather than wake the Morgans, Rory first tried the Weirs. He reached Evelyn, and it was to her he blurted his entire story in rapid-fire fashion.


	7. Battle Royale

**Battle Royale**

Twelve minutes later, Rory arrived at the Weir house. Rory had rushed over as soon as possible, alternately running and walking the distance from his house. He hadn't even bothered to replace his glasses with his contacts, having dressed and ran with scabbard, night-vision goggles and water gun.

Rory had also taken the gremlin's tarnished crown. Never actually touching it, he had carefully wrapped in an old plastic sandwich bag.

"I'm not going to be turned into a gremlin or be possessed by one" Rory told the crown petulantly, as he had an idea that it might do something of that sort.

* * *

Evelyn had been wide awake from the time she answered the phone. She wasn't one to be confused when waken in the middle of the night! Quickly she had checked Benny's room, finding it absent with his spell-book opened to the inside-out spell. Evelyn then went to her special room downstairs, and was busy mixing ingredients when Rory arrived.

Evelyn remembering that Rory had so-lately thought it was cool have vampire superpowers, so she decided to assure him that his coming sooner with vampire super-speed wouldn't have helped.

Rory also dismissed the idea. Aside from all the gnarly downsides of being a vampire, the _vampire_ super-powers didn't impress him that much anymore either. As he followed Evelyn to the Weir's basement, Rory gave Evelyn the example of the "symbiote" in _Spiderman Three_. It had given Peter Parker enhanced superpowers for a while, but it was also slowly corrupting him and would have eventually turned him into a super-villain.

Things would have been different if Rory had been given "good" powers, like Superman's yellow-sun powers, but . . . .

"Never mind Rorster" interrupted Evelyn. "This is human work. You're going to save your friends."

Rory beamed as they entered the room in the Weir's basement where she kept her magical supplies.

"Oftentimes evil forces mimic or mock the habit of natural creatures" Evelyn began, while Rory stared enthralled at the fluorescent blue potion Evelyn was mixing.

Evelyn, knowing Rory's penchant for being distracted, poked him sharply with the spoon she was using.

"Just as colonies of bees have a queen with special functions, so does a murder of gremlins with its king."

"They don't lay gremlin eggs, do they?" asked Rory, horrified, as he thought of queen bees and _their_ role. "That's gross, and . . . and . . . they could be hatching all over my house."

But Rory had been taking Evelyn too literally, as was his wont.

"No dear, gremlins multiply when they're pounded on the head" Evelyn said. "They don't hatch. But the King Gremlin doesn't only destroy things like the others, he uses silver to forge himself a crown as symbol of his power. The crown also allows him to regenerate; the King Gremlin is a powerful demon able to manipulate the power of silver. That is, until now. If you had hit the king gremlin with more than a few drops of holy water he would have been destroyed. But the drops were able to destroy his curse on his crown. It's now worthless to him."

Evelyn picked up the crown.

"It wouldn't have possessed you or turned you into a gremlin, even when it had its power. But, dear, you're right to be careful about magical items."

"Regenerate!" pondered Rory. "That sounds cool . . . I mean, except that's he getting us. Are they okay?"

Evelyn explained how a King Gremlin could manipulate a sleeper's hidden resentments and individual quirks into a murderous rage. And all while they were, in essence, walking in their sleep.

"It's not so much important what those resentments are" said Evelyn. "It's that they're being twisted to overcome your friends' judgements, personality and values."

Rory was astounded. His friends were out to kill one another! It was . . . was . . . pure evil!

"It's going to be . . . be a battle royale" he spluttered. "That fracking little dude! Man, we need to get something to track them. Maybe Krypto?"

"Krypto isn't trained as a hunting dog" said Evelyn with a smile. "But watch this potion while I use this divining rod. Oh, this one will work! After all you've seen these last two years Rory?"

"Yeah, Benny's grandma" said Rory, albeit reluctantly.

Rory had always been taught of divining rods as superstition. In fact, he had just watched a podcast of an astronaut debunking the idea of water-finding as subconscious-knowledge combined with coincidence.

"Most of the time that's true" Evelyn assured Rory, "But when you're using magic it's the exception to the scientific rule."

"Whole different geek universe" said Rory, brightening up as he quoted Benny's phrase.

Evelyn removed a wooden divining rod that she had secreted in her cupboard, dipping it into the blue potion. She handed it to Rory.

"As soon as you get outside, this will lead you straight to the gremlin and probably your friends as well . . . these monsters like to see their work. You need to break your friends' trance to get them out of the gremlin's power. And make sure you stop Benny as soon as possible. Him above all."

"Why Benny?" asked Rory. "Because he's your grandson, right?"

"Of course, dear, Benny's my favourite" Evelyn admitted readily. "But it's far more than an old lady's pride in her grandson. Your lives may depend on it. The gremlin has talked Benny into using the spell that turns people and animals inside-out."

Rory gaped. Rory had heard about that spell from Benny. Rory's first thought was it would be both gross and (therefore) cool to see something walk around with all its organs and veins showing. That is until Benny explained to him nothing could survive that way – it was a terrifying form of torture and death.

"I'm going, Benny's grandma" said Rory.

He ran out of the room, but a moment later sheepishly came back for the divining rod and ran out of the room and up the stairs again.

"Just concentrate, dear" Evelyn called after him.

She shook her head. Rory wouldn't have been her first choice to rescue the others, but what he lost in common sense she believed he would make up in enthusiasm.

* * *

In the meantime, the clock on the Whitechapel City Hall was striking three a.m. This sound wasn't audible in the park next to Ethan's house, but the gremlin who had ran all the way there instinctively knew the time. And what fun! The gremlin was seated in an oak laughing as the fight was about to get underway.

Ethan, living next-door, had arrived first. Ethan had been prowling around for almost a half-hour, swinging his light sabre uselessly and muttering threats against the undead. The fact that Ethan _had_ a Jedi costume and was dressed like Luke Skywalker made it all the funnier.

"A Jedi knight and the light side of the force can always defeat the undead, even if my right arm were cut off" said Ethan to no one in particular.

Benny had hidden himself beside a bush, and, for a reason only known to Benny's subconscious, dressed up in a tuxedo for the occasion. Whether the id of Benny Weir wanted to play James Bond again, or felt Benny should dress like a stage magician for his revenge, was something the gremlin didn't enquire about.

"Laugh at my magic will you" Benny muttered at, rather than to, Ethan. "When the King gives me the symbol, those Jedi threads of yours are going to be red instead of white. In the meantime, _pal_ , how about you be the guinea pig for my latest spell? Like all the great spell-masters, Benny's developed it himself. Well, there's a way in the book to alter spells but you've got to have talent like mine! SO, dude, _Popcorn enigmata percipite auribus vestris_."

This Latin phrase meant "popcorn in your ears". It also meant Jedi Ethan flinched as his ears popped as if he were going up in an airplane or even being driven up a mountain or steep hill. Then they continued to pop as the equivalent of a bag of microwavable popcorn fell slowly fell from his ears.

Benny at first laughed, but was soon dismayed to see Ethan, after whacking the side of his ears to shake out the last kernels, _actually nonchalantly taste one_.

"Dude, that's sick" Benny said.

"This can only be the work of the Sith using the dark side of the force!" announced Ethan stupidly. "Or an undead, unholy, soulless creature of the night. This popcorn doesn't even have butter . . . or salt . . . and it tastes like wax . . . _just as I thought!_ "

Erica had arrived, wearing the same black dress she had worn when she had attempted the vampires' Halloween ritual. Only to find out the ritual was boring, confusing, and made her feel five hundred years old! Now, Erica stood defiantly on the small walk-bridge spanning the tiny stream flowing through the park.

"At last we meet, Seer" Erica said grandiloquently. "Here I am, the representative of the immortals. Here to wreak my vengeance. _How dare you_ so mishandle things as to exile _my_ kind from Whitechapel? How could you _give_ the lucifractor to Stern and make me un-undead . . . and Sarah un-undead . . . and . . . _and ruin everything_!"

Erica ended in what was best described as a high-pitched whine.

"That's what you get for insulting an awesome spell-master like Benny" muttered Benny from behind his bit of foliage. "Besides, I'm the guy who found the lucifractor _and blasted_ the vamps out of town" he added, though even his subconscious realized that it wasn't _entirely_ true.

"So we meet, you undead fiend!" countered Ethan, as supercilious as Erica was grandiloquent. "I will vanquish you, using the light side of the force. You shall not drag Sarah back to the dark side! Nor Rory! Nor Sarah neither" Ethan repeated. "And . . . and . . . you'll never make me or Benny join."

"Why would I want you?" snarled Erica. "I just want you drained and dead . . . not undead."

Ethan advanced to the bridge, Erica retreated a bit. There they stood, on either side of the tiny span. Erica opened her mouth wide showing her brilliant fang-less set of teeth and hissed. Ethan waved about his retractable ultraviolet tanning-bed bulb light sabre.

The two would have been in deadly peril if Erica had still been a vampire, but now they just looked like a pair of idiots. Especially since, a moment later, _both_ had to contend with popcorn falling out of their ears.

The gremlin, for his part, was laughing so hard he fell out of his oak. It took the demon a few minutes until he could again climb the tree.

" _Unbelievable_ " sighed Sarah, who had just walked into the park and glanced at the impending battle of the bridge. "How can a guy as smart as Ethan be out in public playing Jedi? This is what happens when you have geeks like Benny and Rory for friends. I need to save Ethan from himself and his geek posse. I'm definitely going to need to maim or kill those two! Now where's Benny?"

Sarah was dressed in normal jeans and jacket. She hadn't taken her karate- _gi_ and belt as she didn't consider this as neither karate tournament nor practice. After all, she was fighting geeks!

As for Erica, Sarah barely noticed her. An effect of the gremlin's brainwashing was Sarah was incurious toward anything outside of her objectives. What Sarah did notice the strange amount of popcorn about Ethan and Erica, connecting it immediately with Benny's magic.

Sarah reasoned Benny had to be nearby. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Sarah couldn't see behind bushes in the dark and now regretted not having brought a flashlight. Sarah began slowly combing the park looking for her quarry.

* * *

By this time Rory arrived, very much dragged by the magic divining rod. Like Evelyn foretold, the branch began pulling as soon as Rory stepped outside the Weir house. But Evelyn hadn't predicted how close the gremlin would be! As it was, Rory thought the divining-rod was just taking him on a shortcut through the park.

Rory was concentrating on where he was going, but neglected to think of an ambush so soon after his start.

"Oof" said Rory, as he was knocked to the ground by and the diving rod went on by itself in midair. "Sarah!"

Sarah had seen Rory enter the park, and decided to take care of him first. "Now, you moron" she said, pinning down his neck with her foot. "What will it take to make you leave Ethan alone?"


	8. Just Rewards

**Just Rewards**

Rory had heard Sarah call him an idiot, stupid or things along that line before. But _never_ with the menace and anger he now heard in her voice. Rory put it off as the gremlin's "dark doings", but did realize he was in trouble as Sarah could kick serious butt even if she was without her "evil vampire powers."

Rory also knew that the human neck was not only a prime target for vampires, but was the weakness of human beings akin to kryptonite to Superman.

"Wakeup Sarah!" tried Rory, as loudly as he could with a shoe placed on his throat.

* * *

Elsewhere, things were going from bad to worse. Benny decided that popcorn-in-the-ear wasn't good enough. Muttering angrily about wanting to use his inside-out spell, Benny decided to literally warm up by aiming fireballs at Ethan and Erica. Fortunately, he wasn't too good at throwing fireballs from across the park. These fireballs were more akin to the "thunderball" Benny had thrown at a Toronto beach some weeks before. Halfway across the park they started to bounce lazily along the ground. Most of them fizzled out in the stream; yet a few did reach the bridge where Ethan and Erica were having their tragicomic battle.

"This is your fault, you Sith bloodsucker" said Ethan, lancing a "thunderball" with his light sabre and grimacing as it popped like a balloon filled with soot.

"Only you and your geeky friends would annoy a _glamorous_ immortal like me this way" whined Erica, who indignantly kicked another thunderball into the stream. She had to dodge a spout of steam as that ball collapsed.

"Those jerks are still dissing my magic!" Benny said in a rage. "They are _so_ inside-out. As soon as . . . there's Sarah. _Cool!_ She has a foot on Rory Ransom " _good thing Benny sucks at magic_ " Keener's throat. Rory might not live long enough to bleed out inside-out. But Sarah will. What does a girl look like inside-out? Where's that gremlin?"

* * *

The gremlin had no scruples about eating popcorn that had fallen from a person's ears. And the gremlin king thought the dirt from the ground only added to the flavor . . . not to mention the delicious taste of Erica and Ethan's earwax. Somehow the King Gremlin had assembled a large popcorn carton, and was back in his oak tree munching on the corn as (Benny finishing with his fireballs) the battle between Ethan and Erica began again in earnest.

* * *

Rory had discovered that his shouting "Wake up" didn't work. He also found out that Sarah's subconscious mind, horribly twisted by the gremlin's brainwashing, to be extremely talkative. Rory was informed he was "Ethan's Achilles heel." It was he who stopped Ethan from being the coolest kid in high school, ruined Ethan's potential to be student president, would prevent Ethan from being elected valedictorian, and thwart Ethan's destiny of joining the mounted police.

At another time, Rory would have found "Ethan of the Mounties" to be both funny _and_ cool at the same time. Although admittedly not nearly as cool as Rory and his pals being astronauts or _Star Wars_ Jedis or _Star Trek_ Officers or _Battlestar Galactica_ Colonial Warriors. There was no time now to think of Ethan in red serge and Stenson. Sarah's shoe was on Rory's throat, and he was at risk of paralysis, choking or death if she should use a karate kick now.

Fortunately, Sarah suddenly released Rory with a groan as she started hitting her ears.

Rory was confused, until a series of pops went off in his ears. He hated his ears popping, and began to hit them desperately. He was surprised to find, after one hit, popcorn spouting from them.

"That loser Benny" Sarah said aloud.

* * *

Sure enough, Benny determined that a couple more of his "enemies" having arrived to insult his magic, it was time to greet them with popcorn-in-the-ears. Benny was quaking with laughter from his hiding place behind the bush on the opposite end of the park.

* * *

Rory liked popcorn and seriously considered eating it . . . even though it had come from his ears. But, _as everybody knew_ , popcorn should be large and fluffy . . . these were small, had no butter, and looked as if Benny had burnt them. And Rory hated burnt popcorn.

"Besides, there was Sarah! Hey, what about the holy water!" Rory thought. "Water woke people up, and it was for a good cause. And Sarah would think it was awesome! It would end the gremlin's trance, while a few short months ago it would have "ended" Sarah.

Sarah was still shaking the popcorn from her ears when she was sprayed with the water.

"You geek!" she said angrily, but then like waking from a dream she broke out of her trance. Sarah remembered everything, the jabbering gremlin, her trance, her spouting out her deepest secrets, her insane anger with Benny and Rory for "sabotaging" Ethan's popularity.

Sarah blushed with embarrassment, especially when she saw the print of the sole of her shoe on Rory's neck. But remembered herself enough to help Rory up and muttered a quick sorry to him.

"The gremlin regenerated from his crown" Rory explained. "Someone saved it . . . ."

"Erica" thought Sarah irritably, but kept quiet.

"So he's twisted Team Sabre's . . . and Erica's . . . thoughts in their sleep so they all want to kill each other" said Rory. "The gremlin tried to get me too, but Krypto saved me. Aw man, I forgot to say good boy! I mean, I asked if he was okay, and thanked him, but I should have said good boy!"

Sarah ignored this last bit, having again looked toward the bridge. Ethan was now threatening to poke Erica in the heart with his light sabre, but she kept jumping back out of the way at the last moment. As for Erica, she kept inclining her head forward to try and get a bite at Ethan's arm or his neck.

"She looks like a T-Rex trying to chomp on him" said Rory wryly. "The way she's putting her head out, it's like _Jurassic Park_."

Sarah noticed Rory rub his neck. It occurred to Sarah that was a sort of subconscious psychological wound that was the aftermath of realizing what _exactly_ he had been. Sarah, on the other hand, had been conscious of what being a vampire was throughout.

Whether it was better knowing after-the-fact, than suffering that knowledge _as_ a vampire, Sarah didn't know and hadn't time to consider. This did, however, make Sarah consider the _malevolence_ of the gremlin in having them all reveal their most personal thoughts. And bending, in Sarah's case, her annoyance with Benny's jerkiness and Rory's childishness to murderous hatred.

"At least they can't kill each other" said Sarah, watching the ridiculous fight go on.

"That's not the problem, Benny . . . ." Rory started to explain, before he was interrupted by the manic laughter of the gremlin.

* * *

"More popcorn!" the gremlin king laughed. "Hahaha, more popcorn!"

The gremlin was looking at neither Sarah nor Rory, but still shaking with laughter at the sight of Ethan and Erica. Ethan had finally managed to poke Erica in the ribs with his light sabre. Erica's counterattack consisted of hissing at Ethan and then stomping on his foot. Erica started to act out a death scene, as if she had been _literally_ stabbed. She stopped after a few seconds, frowning. As for Ethan, the wannabe Jedi hopped about on one foot to his side of the bridge.

"Haha" screeched the gremlin from his oak. "I'll watch you two till you're tired out, and then you'll be turned inside out."

* * *

"Dude likes to rhyme" said Rory, who looked about and finally saw the gremlin in the oak.

Rory was still wearing his night-vision goggles over his glasses.

"Pass them to me" said Sarah. "What's this about inside-out?"

Rory explained as he passed the goggles, blinking behind his glasses as he struggled to see in the nighttime gloom.

"So we need to stop Benny first, even before the gremlin" Sarah realized. "Where is he? Hiding somewhere, just as he did when the jerk was spying on me? Benny needs a clear path to cast his spells, doesn't he?"

"Yeah" said Rory.

"He put popcorn in Erica and Ethan's ears" Sarah reasoned, "and he put popcorn in ours, so where the clear paths meet we'll find Benny."

"Man, like trig?" asked Rory, meaning trigonometry.

"Not so complicated" said Sarah, who had no intention of making out complicated trigonometry equations.

Sarah looked across the park from the bridge to some bushes, and the clear pathways from where they were to some bushes. In a moment Sarah observed Benny rise from behind some bushes and aim something at them.

The something was another couple fireballs. They were more successful than the "thunderballs" aimed at Ethan and Erica. It was only by Sarah and Rory "hitting the dirt" that they avoided a hit.

"This is like a _Mario_ game" said Rory. "Benny's a fire piranha plant."

This was complete gibberish to Sarah, but she didn't have time to argue the point. How to stop Benny? Ethan was usually the one with the plans, but Sarah was up to the task.

"Can you see the oak?" Sarah asked Rory.

"Yeah"

"Take back your water-gun, and try for the gremlin. Wait a minute before you rush out. And watch out for Benny's fireballs or his inside-out spell! I'm going to get some karate practice. And Rory . . . _never_ tell anyone about Ethan the Mountie."

Rory remembered how he had outran Brunner's vampire-possessed car. So he began running across the park dodging his invisible quarry.

* * *

This weirdness didn't escape Benny's notice.

"What's Rory doing now, that loser?" Benny said spitefully. " _That_ guy insults _my_ magic? Why do I let him live? Well, I'll just trip him and then I'll use a selection of my best spells. By the time he's dead he'll regret ever saying Benny sucks at magic!"

The problem was that Benny wasn't as good as he thought he was. It frustrated Benny.

"When can I turn the guy inside-out?" he complained.

* * *

The gremlin, still laughing at Ethan and Erica's antics, heard Benny. To his surprise, the gremlin realized that Rory had tracked them down and his greatest prize, Sarah, was no longer to be seen. Enraged, the gremlin dropped his carton of "ear popcorn" and tried to give the order to hit Rory with the inside-out spell.

Fortunately, the King Gremlin had been in the process of swallowing popcorn without chewing. It took him a few crucial moments to get the kernels down his diabolical windpipe . . . .

* * *

Sarah gave Benny a karate kick and a few chops, bowling him over.

"What the . . . ." started Benny, loudly and angrily.

"You're dead, you know . . . ow."

"Stop kicking, let me cast . . . ."

"Ow, you can't . . . _my arm_ . . . .",

"I haven't had a chance to . . . ."

And finally "Huh?"

Benny had finally awakened under painful circumstances and realized with a grimace he had been in a gremlin-induced trance.

"I was trying to kill everyone?" Benny asked Sarah. "Wait . . . how'd you miss a gremlin? I _knew_ Ethan and me should have signed up for that shop class. _We_ wouldn't have been stupid enough to miss that gremlin."

"It's a good thing I've already beat you up" Sarah replied icily.

Benny gave a sheepish grin, and was about to backtrack on his _stupidly_ calling Sarah stupid. Fortunately, for Benny, any need for apology was by a strange crunching sound followed by a CREAK and a CRASH.

* * *

Rory had reached the oak tree, but the gremlin in turn retreated into the leaves and branches high in tree. Rory had no hope of seeing into _that_ pitch darkness.

The King Gremlin began to chew through the tree limbs like a beaver. Trees, however, are less predictable than metal or even wooden beams and supports in how and when they fall. The chewing and the creak had concentrated even Rory's oblivious mind on the peril he faced. Rory retreated in time, and was soon joined by Sarah and Benny as they tried to spot the gremlin who gave up chewing was now jumping manically about the tree cursing them.

"I should record this on my phone" said Benny, amused. "This dude really puts together some good words."

"He did it at my house too" Rory put it. "I thought my parents would hear and blame me."

"They have that big room that used to be the garage" Benny said dismissively. "Dude, you can do anything you want and they won't hear you. How do you think you were able to get away with watching T.V. all night when you were a vamp?"

"Nuh-uh" said Rory. "I still got to sleep for about an hour every night. But it was weird. I could only fall asleep with the lights on and. . ."

"He doesn't want to hear about how vampires sleep, Rory" said Sarah. " _I_ don't want to even think about it."

"I think I could burn down the tree" suggested Benny.

"You do that!" screamed the gremlin.

"I don't think fire will affect him" said Sarah contemplatively.

The three thought for a moment. Rory hadn't any better idea than climbing the tree and spraying randomly. Sarah was all for spraying around the tree, trapping the gremlin, and then sending Rory to get Evelyn Weir. When Benny objected, Sarah reminded him of all the times Benny and Ethan had run to her for help.

"That's a super-soaker you have there" said Benny, suddenly to Rory.

"Yeah" said Rory.

"Let me have it" said Benny, "Sarah, after _destroying_ me, the least you can do is give me Rory's night vision goggles."

"Why?" asked Sarah.

" _Battleship_ " said Benny. "It's old school, but that's how we'll get him."

When Benny had played _Battleship_ with Ethan _,_ he started by hunting for the aircraft carrier. In so doing, Benny fired in a grid, cutting down the number of locations the five-place aircraft carried could hide. Most of the time, one of Benny's ships were hit by Ethan in the meantime . . . or Benny managed to stumble on another of Ethan's ships, but that was the general idea.

(As for Rory, he made random guesses and lost more often than not. But if Rory did sink a ship, he made torpedo sound-effects)

But Benny's method was how Team Sabre would _seek and destroy_ the gremlin. Benny started by spraying water along the trunk. Sure enough, Benny, Sarah and Rory only heard the gremlin from one side of the tree now. Benny aimed the gun so as to make a horizontal band. The gremlin now retreated to the top.

"It looks as if we'll have to climb the tree after all" Benny groaned.

* * *

But the King Gremlin had determined on a desperate move. He didn't like being trapped, and one gremlin against these un-brainwashed teens weren't good fighting odds. He jumped out of the tree on his head.

Fortunately, Benny, Sarah and Rory sighted the gremlin's ungraceful crash . . . well, _gremlins_.

When the gremlin landed, several transparent small gremlins started circling round its head. Much like a cartoon character knocked out and seeing miniature birds. _These new gremlins became solid and stood upon the ground laughing manically._

Benny drenched them and their king with the holy water. The entire group screeched loudly as they went up in smoke and flame.

"Team Sabre's again _victorious_ " boasted Benny. "Thanks to Benny . . . _and Sarah and Rory_ " he added as an afterthought. "How'd you guys escape the gremlin king and his brainwashing?"

It was, Benny thought gleefully, like falling dominoes. Krypto broke Rory's trance, Rory broke Sarah's, and Sarah broke his. Which left . . . his best friend and Erica.

Benny, Sarah and Rory walked over to where Ethan and Erica were _still_ having their inconclusive fight.

"You'll never win over the light side of the force" Ethan threatened, again waving his ultra-violet light sabre at Erica. "Give up, you Sith Bloodsucker!"

"A geek like you is no match for a _stylish_ immortal like me" retorted Erica, showing her brilliant-white but fangless set of teeth. "Vampires can do whatever they want, whenever they want."

"That's from _Dusk_ " said Sarah, with a sigh. "If I thought there were more to it than the romance . . . and there were actually vampires . . . ."

"I can't believe _she_ still believes that" said Benny. "Even brainwashed."

"What vampires _can_ do" Rory said sagely, "Isn't worth giving up what _they don't have and don't get to do_."

"Give me that, Benny, and I'll end this" said Sarah, who felt embarrassed for Ethan and Erica both.

"You can't do that" Benny objected. "We've got to see who wins."

"We'll be here all day" said Sarah, as she pulled the water gun from Benny's hands.

But Sarah was too late. She did get to see who won the battle.

Ethan decided to try for a jab straight at Erica's heart. Erica dodged him by jumping to her left. And she _bit into his neck, right above his jugular vein._ Ethan cried out, _and quickly stabbed her with the sabre in the heart_.

"The Ethanator won" said Benny. "He got her in the heart."

"Oh man" said Rory unhappily, again rubbing his neck. "She got him right where she got me . . . under Gord and Jesse's power, but still . . . she's going to turn him into a vampire."

"Erica was no longer a vampire" Sarah reminded them. "So she's done nothing but bite Ethan, and Ethan's just pushed her into the stream."

Ethan was rubbing his neck, and shaking his head as he came of his sleepwalking-state with a confused and very angry expression. As for Erica, she had, as Sarah said, been poked not stabbed by Ethan's light sabre. She had lost her balance and fallen two feet into the muddy water.

Sarah was briefly indecisive, who should she help? Her BFF or her boyfriend? Erica was her best friend . . . but she had started this mess by saving the gremlin's crown as a souvenir. Well, Benny and Rory went to see Ethan. So that made it easier for Sarah to help Erica out of her situation.

"She bit me!" Ethan said to Benny and Rory, in a bit of a panic. "Erica bit my neck! I can't . . . ."

"Dude, chill" said Benny. "You won't. She's not, remember?"

"You're not going to have to bite a single rat" Rory said encouragingly. "Or face any of the _really_ gnarly stuff."

Ethan sighed with relief, but looked toward Erica with annoyance.

Ethan's expression changed to a reluctant grin. Benny and Rory grinned too, but not half so reluctantly . . . .

"She actually looks _pretty hot_ in that black dress, now it's wet, muddy and clinging to her skin" Benny muttered to Rory and Ethan.

Rory nodded.

As for Erica herself . . . .

" _Oh noooooooooo!_ " she wailed.

Erica looked dependently on Sarah as her BFF helped her out of the ditch.

"You couldn't have known" Sarah told Erica soothingly.

Maybe, but for Erica this was total humiliation!

As bad as the time she was turned into a doll; as bad as the time she cheered on the werewolf star athlete only to find she was fawning over Werewolf Ethan; as bad as being glamoured by Jesse, or that last night in the vampire restaurant when all the dinners ran away! Maybe even as terrible as "lucifractor night" when along with Sarah and Rory she was cured!

And, now, what was worse than spilling her secrets to a demonic gremlin king? What was worse than being gawked at by geeks after falling into a muddy ditch? What was worse than biting Ethan?

It was the fact that she saw, even in the dim light, that she had left a red bruise on Ethan's neck. Benny was sure to tell everyone he could that she, Erica, had given Ethan a hickey.

 **To be concluded**


	9. Year of Awesome

**Year of Awesome  
**

"Oh, Bennykins" gushed Erica. "How can I ever thank you for letting me go to your house to freshen up!"

There Erica was, in her wet, skin-tight dress, looking lovingly at Benny as she stood shivering upon the Weir's front porch.

"It's no problem" Benny replied casually.

"After tangling with the gremlin" continued Erica, dreamily "I wouldn't be comfortable going anywhere except to the home of a brave, cool, awesome, tall, smart spell-master like you!"

"Let me warm you up" suggested Benny, as cool as he could be.

With that Benny took Erica in her arms, and they kissed.

 _Unfortunately for Benny_ , this was purely a product of his imagination. Would Erica say _Bennykins_ under any circumstances? Even subject to a love potion? _In actuality_ , Benny was left alone as he went in his own front door.

* * *

After everybody had said some embarrassed apologies, they went on their way. Everybody but Erica. She badmouthed the gremlin in place of saying a single "sorry", and made a hasty exit. In fact, Benny had _somewhat_ politely invited Erica home where his grandmother could see about her getting some clean, dry clothes. But Erica vehemently rejected the offer.

Ethan exchanged a few words with Sarah before she left with Erica. Then Ethan shared some high-fives with his pals, and went to his house which was, after all, next door. Ethan put a bandage on his neck (which really was unnecessary), frowned at the Jedi costume which would now have to be dry-cleaned, changed into his pajamas, stored his light sabre under his bed, then seized a couple extra hours sleep.

Rory hadn't anything to apologize for, but he had fallen into the general spirit and said "sorry" anyways. Retrieving his night vision goggles, he hurried home to get his room in order before he could get grounded for the mess the gremlin made. Krypto was given a dog biscuit and the elusive "good boy".

* * *

"Are you going back to bed, Benny" asked Evelyn as her grandson walked in. "I'm making my special pancakes. It's almost five right now."

"Not with a stack of pancakes waiting" said Benny, but then thinking, "Your special pancakes don't have any special ingredients, like your special lasagna?"

"Don't be ridiculous" said Evelyn, as she sat down with the mixing bowl. "Dried pancreas flavored pancakes would taste terrible. These have blueberries, apples, and just a touch of cod liver oil."

Benny was surprised at the cod liver oil, but as he had never managed to _taste it_ , he was silent.

"I knew you'd do well with the gremlin" Evelyn observed.

This opened Benny up, to describe the battle.

"It was awesome" Benny concluded. "But gremlins are _way more Loony Toons_ than vampires, which are deadly serious."

"It would have been deadly serious if anyone had been killed" his grandmother pointed out.

"Yeah" Benny admitted. "You know, Grandma, I never realized that I was so angry about those cracks the guys make about my magic."

"You aren't" said Evelyn kindly. "That's the king gremlin's cleverness. Turning a little difference between friends into something you'd want to murder for. But why" Evelyn added, " _did you learn_ the inside-out spell."

Benny looked abashed, and nervous.

"I . . . uh . . . thought, it would be cool to see what things looked like inside-out" Benny said defensively. "I _never_ tried it on people! A mouse . . . and when it died I didn't do it again!"

"I thought that was it" said Mrs. Weir, as she finished mixing and walked toward the stove. "I _hoped_ my grandson used the spell to because he wanted to be _grossed out_. You expect that from a teenage boy."

"Yeah, Grandma, it's just one of those things" laughed Benny, feeling careless now that he was out of trouble. "Like the love potion I used on the girls . . . Grandma?"

Bad move on Benny's part.

"No" Evelyn replied sharply, giving Benny a fierce glance. "I hoped you had better morals and more common sense. You knew exactly what that spell was for . . . to force innocent girls to fall in love with you. You just didn't expect the pendulum-effect. _If you ever_ try something like that again . . . ."

"Trust me, Grandma" Benny said hurriedly. "I won't"

Benny set the table, sat back and waited for his pancakes. _And_ thought.

Not about the gremlins, but how he, Benny'd make the hickey Erica had given Ethan sound as cool as possible. He'd claim that Erica walked up to Ethan, and gave him a hickey by surprise. Then Erica and Sarah had a fight over Ethan in the park. Sarah finally won, and pushed Erica into the stream. Two hot chicks fighting over Ethan? How cool was that?

* * *

"Really cool" said Rory, as he met Ethan and Benny at the corner where their paths met on the way to Whitechapel High. Rory had put in his contacts, finished cleaning his room, was _way_ tired, but exhilarated by Team Sabre's victory and his key role.

As for Benny's idea, Rory thought the story would make Ethan _impossibly cool_.

"Not cool" said Ethan bluntly. "I'm _finally_ dating Sarah. I don't want to date Erica even if she ever gets over this vampire-thing of hers'. Going around bragging about Erica giving me a hickey and Sarah and Erica had a . . . cool-looking . . . fight over me is _really_ going to insult Sarah. I like her too much for _anything like that_."

"She won't be insulted" scoffed Benny, although he quietly wondered if Sarah'd beat him up again if he spread the story.

"Good reason, Ethan" Rory admitted. "I mean Sarah's not going to like the idea of her fighting Erica over you, as awesome as it is. She, uh, didn't like it when I told Anastasia she went on a date with the Rorster when I was really giving her a flying lesson. You know, back when we were vamps. Dudes, when I get my pilot's license and fly for _real_. . . ."

"You should probably work on your driving first" Benny suggested mischievously. "We were watching when your Mom gave you your first lesson."

"My driveway has that curve" objected Rory. "I . . . ."

"Besides" said Ethan, interrupting Rory. "Erica wasn't even trying to give me a hickey. She was trying to kill me."

"Yeah, Team Sabre went into a Battle Royale" Benny said. "Just because Erica had to keep that crown."

"Did you get rid of it?" asked Ethan.

"Grandma's melted it down as spell materials" said Benny. "Once it was hit with holy water, it lost its curse and just because an ordinary hunk of silver."

"Ag, atomic number 47 on the periodic table" muttered Ethan.

"Why'd you say that?" asked Rory.

"It just makes things seem normal again" Ethan said, with a grin. "Gremlin crown to boring hunk of metal. Which is another reason I don't want to go through with that story. Everything's back to normal. As for the bandage, I've got a cool explanation that won't embarrass Sarah."

"Forget Erica then" suggested Benny. "Just say Sarah gave you the hickey. That's just awesome."

"Everyone's going to envy you" Rory put in.

"Sarah's really going to like me lying about that" Ethan replied sarcastically. "I have a better idea."

What was Ethan's idea? To tell everyone he cut himself shaving. The fact that Ethan hadn't anything to shave didn't stop him. The fact that nobody outside Team Sabre or Erica cared enough to ask Ethan did.

To the extent anyone _did_ notice, they assumed the gawky Ethan had a zit on his neck he was hiding from Sarah.

* * *

This was fine with Erica, who had noticed the bandage. She was even feeling more generous toward Ethan than she had for some time. That is until she realized that Ethan was ashamed of her having given him a hickey!

But even Erica realized it was crazy to been furious about accidentally giving Ethan a hickey and then angry that he wasn't eager to announce it to the world! She laughed it off and concluded Ethan wasn't _all_ bad.

Then Erica went in search of Tom Towers, who she felt wouldn't be so particular.

* * *

At lunch, Sarah left the Yearbook Committee meeting with a bounce in her step . . . in spite of getting very little sleep the night before. Sarah was _Yearbook Editor_ , and had just had her photo taken! The position was a great honor (the photo was just fun), especially given that she hadn't been on the committee the last two years. But Sarah was well-liked and respected across the student body, by the cool and the uncool alike.

"I don't know anything that could make me feel better after the night we had" said Sarah to Erica in the cafeteria, " _than this_. I was just hoping to get through the day without falling asleep, but the yearbook's in my trust for our graduation year. Can you believe it? Last year I couldn't even get a picture!"

"That's fine" suggested Erica, who was definitely in a good mood. For a day that started so poorly, it had really turned in her favor. "I'm looking forward to looking _totally hot_ in the yearbook. But I don't really feel like spending the year arranging photos and graduation statements. _But since you are_ , I know how you might arrange the book."

"How?" asked Sarah.

"Don't arrange the book by the class and by grade" Erica advised sardonically. "Give full page spreads to the coolest, like us, hide the Grade 9 newbs on one page near the back and put the geeks on the last page. You know, under the title "School Geeks who are beneath Contempt."

Sarah treated this joke/suggestion as beneath contempt and ignored it.

"You know" said Erica, a little annoyed that Sarah didn't like her joke, "Ethan's just as bad as me in judging high-school cliques."

"Yeah, sure" scoffed Sarah, with a smile. "Ethan's and his geek posse rules the school with an iron fist."

"Ever hear your boyfriend talk about jocks?" retorted Erica.

Sarah chewed on this, as she chewed on her sandwich, and thought there was some truth to this.

"A lot of them of jerks" Sarah replied, "Not all, but a lot of them. Where is Ethan? I know we usually don't eat lunch together but I wanted to tell him the news about the school yearbook."

* * *

Ethan, Benny and Rory were with Ms. Steel. She had collected the homework and didn't much like the idea of handling torn papers covered in dried puppy drool.

"Finished marking your classmates papers?" she said primly from her desk, as she looked at the electric clock on wall. "You've missed lunch. It's almost time for your next period."

"This is the last paper" said Ethan, stifling a yawn.

"Very good" said Ms. Steel, with a hint of a smile. "You will find me severe, but fair. You three are good students, but next time ensure your work is submitted in a presentable matter. You may _go_."

"I knew she was evil" muttered Benny as the three friends left the room.

"And we were having turkey subs in the school cafeteria" Rory complained. "All I had to eat was a couple of my garlic cloves. If we hurry . . . ."

Ethan was about to say something, when he was surprised by a kiss on the cheek from Sarah. At school! Right in the hall! _Way_ better than any lies about hickeys!

Rory and Benny gave Ethan a couple thumbs-up and left to try and wolf-down a late lunch.

"This year's going to be awesome" Ethan said, that is after Sarah told him about the yearbook. "Even with Ms. Steel."

"I thought Math was the last class you'd get detention" Sarah replied.

Ethan told her about the Krypto eating the homework.

"I guess with Krypto saving us from the gremlin's king, it evens out" Ethan finished, rather coolly in his mind.

He was happy to see Sarah laugh at the joke.

The two walked to Ethan's locker, casually talking about school until Ethan finished taking his things out for his programming class.

"I thought when you come babysitting . . . _babysitting_ _Jane_ . . . tomorrow night, we can order a pizza and watch something awesome on TV" Ethan suggested. "I know we just had a picnic, but we ought to invite everyone . . . Team Sabre ought to celebrate its latest victory. Then we can have our date Saturday night."

"Sounds cool" Sarah agreed. An idea occurred to her. Maybe Erica had a point about Ethan? "I'll invite Erica along with her date . . . _if_ they want to come"

"If they want to come" repeated Ethan doubtfully. "It's about as likely as Benny finally getting a girl. Maybe we'll do another luau?"

"How do you feel about Westerns?" Sarah replied.

"That'll be cool. I just have to see if my cowboy hat still fits, it's been a while."

Sarah wasn't surprised that Ethan had a cowboy outfit. It was so . . . Ethan.

As for Ethan, he already had in mind how awesome it would be partying with Sarah Western-style. Ethan could print out some "Wanted" posters with their pictures on it. Benny could roundup some Ghost Pepper sauce chili to show off that he could take the heat. Rory would bring nachos and some garlic salsa. Then there were the movies. There was _Cowboys v. Aliens._ There were awesome "space western" episodes of _Star Trek,_ the original _Battlestar Galactica_ , and much of _A New Hope_ was very much a Western set in space.

And even if they watched regular westerns . . . well, a change was good every once in a while!

Best of all, there was Sarah.

Ethan and Sarah looked at each other. In a few moments the bell would ring. The hall was empty.

Ethan kissed Sarah . . . on the lips. How cool was that? Right in school.

And best of all, this was reality . . . not Ethan's imagination.

 **The End**


End file.
